SOME time towards the end of 2001, a Daihatsu car drew up at an auto air-conditioner repair shop at the University Gardens complex of Johor Bahru in Malaysia. Arman, the shop owner, hastened to serve his customer. The bespectacled driver was a tall man of few words. Without engaging in small talk, Arman went to work on the faulty air-conditioner inside the vehicle. Occasionally, he would comment to the driver of the car, how he ought to serv