Kuala Lampur, Oct. 6 -- Over the past week, Universiti Malaya has just welcomed another batch of young men and women taking their first steps into university life. Residential colleges became unusually busy. Suitcases, luggage, and backpacks of various sizes were wheeled across campus paths, and countless family photographs were taken whenever a UM crest appeared (and nowadays, beside the newer "I [HEART] UM" landmarks) before the inevitable goodbyes. Every registration season carries the same mixture of excitement, uncertainty and hope. It is, after all, the beginning of a new chapter.

This year, however, the arrival of another registration week (better known on campus as UM-WOW, or Week of Welcome) has brought back a memory I had not r...