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By Ooi Kee Beng, Editorial for September 2026 issue of Penang Monthly . THE POLITICAL ECONOMY encompassing the night market is strangely illuminative of human society. Why do I say that? Now, one can take the individual as the point of departure for analysing the bare constituents of society. Or one can start with the family, … Continue reading
A discussion on 21st century geopolitics and the centuries-long history behind it. Has global decolonisation entered its final stage? We dissect and reconnect concepts and notions on international relations and global power. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0OiVjvYf9g
By Ooi Kee Beng, in The Edge Weekly Malaysia, 22-30 August 2026. We take global trade as a given nowadays. And yet, despite countless attempts by postcolonial scholars to push the genesis of what can be properly called “global trade” as we know it today as far back in time as possible, the fact remains … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG (GTLF Festival Director, Penang Monthly Managing Editor, and Penang Institute Executive Director) In Mekong Review, August 2026 MOST FESTIVALS are like birthdays. They puncture the relentless monotony of daily life. Like new year days, harvest or spring festivals, and religious events. In that sense, they are also celebratory. Like parties But … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, for The Edge, 1-6 August 2026 Serious change in a person’s pathos and ethos—their will and the rationale for their actions and feelings—is most likely to take place when their self-image is altered. A self-image, in turn, is constructed on the network of narratives relevant to their surrounding—their reference group, basically; … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, Editorial, July 2026, Penang Monthly WRITING DURING THE middle of my writer’s retreat at the Rimbun Dahan arts centre, near Sungai Buloh, I was inspired by its peaceful environment to adopt some generous perspectives about the world. I turn to a seemingly innocuous subject: the hobby. How much time do you need … Continue reading
Interview with Yicai Global, July 15, 2026 (Yicai) July 15 – A new stage in the decolonization in Southeast Asia began recently, triggered not by politics but by the transformative regional growth driven by China’s phenomenal rise, according to the executive director of Penang Institute, one of Malaysia’s major public policy think tanks. “The broad … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng. Penang Monthly editorial for July 2026 THE CONNECTION BETWEEN culture and economics is a fascinating one. Staying alive is much easier to do as a group than alone. Interweaving functions, connecting roles and sharing the benefits of teamwork; all these are the building blocks of society. And of culture. I chase … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, for The Edge Malaysia, 20-27 June 2026 TWO THINGS that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been depending upon for its slow-and-steady, all-aboard method to deliver are firstly a lack of urgency, and secondly an absence of unrelenting outside pressure. Anyone concerned about the issues the organization purports to … Continue reading
In Captains & Legends column in EZ Malaysia May 19 2026 See https://ezmalaysia.news/2026/05/19/chaptering-my-life/.
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