IT was quite humid in Singapore in the middle of last July. The hot air sneaked into the hall of Indonesia-Singapore school, a venue for new student registration of the Open University.

Sukmawati, 23, stood patiently in the queue. There were still 20 people in front of her. Once in a while she wiped the sweat from her forehead while texting on her mobile phone. She was enrolling as an accounting major. “I want to work in a bank,” she expla