Kuala Lampur, Oct. 7 -- "You want to save the world, but you don't want it to change." - Ultron to the Avengers

KL's skyline of late looks funky. It's like the city is situated 20,000 feet above sea-level. Looks like heaven... but smells like hell.

The haze is like purgatory veiled in dry ice. And purgatory in Christian teaching is that place where souls are cleansed and refined (for, literally, heaven's sake).

Is there something our unenviable air quality readings can teach us as a nation? As a region? Can the haze, uh, cleanse us of anything?

Imagine a mega-sensei checking the pulse of our region. What would he be listening for other than the haze? What would he be concerned about apart from the immediate symptom?

My guess is he wo...