The decades just fly by

Sunday column, Merdeka Day edition

You turn your back for a moment and a city can completely transform itself.

It was, oh, just the other day I was tripping up to Kuala Lumpur every few months to teach workshops and luxuriate in the tropical warmth and fill my face with Char Kway Teow.

It has to be, oh just the other day because in my telescoped memory 2015 was last month, 9/11 was a few …