IF you stand in a corner of Senayan City Mall, you realize how the night has changed, just as the world has changed. Here in this wide air-conditioned space, the electric lighting is never turned off. Neon advertisements move incessantly, music infiltrates via hundreds of iPods to the most intimate spaces, and ample alleyways display meter upon meter of shop fronts with clothing and food.

Ten—no, five—years ago, the night was not like this.