If you look at Malaysia’s universities in 2025, you might think the answer is obvious. They’re ranking higher.

Walk past Masjid Jamek or the old KTM Railway Station and look up. Those onion-shaped domes, arches, and chhatris might make you think of distant lands like Delhi or Jaipur

If you live in Malaysia, you already know this feeling. The sky darkens, the rain begins. The drains start whispering, somewhere not very far away, water is thinking about where it wants to go next. Flooding in Malaysia is not rare. It is routine. It is seasonal. And yet every year it somehow still surprises us. So let us stop being surprised and let us understand.