//
archives

Ooi Kee Beng

Dr OOI KEE BENG is the Executive Director of Penang Institute (George Town, Penang, Malaysia). He was born and raised in Penang, and was the Deputy Director of ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute (formerly the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, ISEAS). He is the founder-editor of the Penang Monthly (published by Penang Institute), ISEAS Perspective (published by ISEAS) and ISSUES (published by Penang Institute). He is also editor of Trends in Southeast Asia, and a columnist for The Edge, Malaysia.
Ooi Kee Beng has written 454 posts for Wikibeng

People-to-People Connectivity: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Posted by ⋅ ⋅ Leave a comment

Notes written for use at the “Fireside Chat” panel at the “China-ASEAN Economic Seminar: Exploring the Feasibility of a China-ASEAN Common Market“. Organised by the Guangzhou Institute of the Greater Bay Area (GIG), the Belt And Road Initiative Caucus for Asia Pacific (BRICAP), and Sunway University, on 21 April 2024 at Sunway University By Dato’ … Continue reading →

Picking Themes for the ASEAN Chairmanship Has Never Been So Critical for Malaysia

Posted by ⋅ ⋅ Leave a comment

By Ooi Kee Beng, for The Edge Malaysia, 30 March-5 April 2024. SMACK IN THE middle of this electoral term, Malaysia is going to begin holding the year-long chairmanship for ASEAN. When 2025 comes around, the Unity Government under Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim will have the opportunity to act on themes that best express what … Continue reading →

Weathering Climate Change—A Battle Fatal to Lose

Posted by ⋅ ⋅ Leave a comment

By Ooi Kee Beng April 2024 EDITORIAL, Penang Monthly I REMEMBER STRUGGLING with the terms “weather” and “climate” in primary school. And as with most related words, it was about knowing when to use one and not the other, not so much about understanding each of them properly or deeply. I did say this was during … Continue reading →

Reformasi, Perpaduan, Madani — Anwar Ibrahim and the Search for a Sense of Common Purpose

Posted by ⋅ ⋅ Leave a comment

RSIS Seminar by Ooi Kee Beng, 21 March 2024. Keypoint, RSIS, NTU Abstract The political life of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has been a very long one, but it is the last 20 years that have provided him with a role and a purpose that go beyond what would have been normal for an UMNO … Continue reading →

Geopolitical Trends and Their Impact on ASEAN

Posted by ⋅ ⋅ Leave a comment

Online Lecture given by Ooi Kee Beng to the Master’s Class at the Law Faulty of Chulalongkorn University, on 14 March 2024. Good morning everyone. I am most happy to have this chance to speak to all of you. I do miss lecturing, which I have only done sporadically ever since I left academia to … Continue reading →

Pursuing the Meaning of Equality and Liberty (With AI Assistance)

Posted by ⋅ ⋅ Leave a comment

By Ooi Kee Beng, March 2024 Editorial, Penang Monthly WHETHER WE LIKE to think so or not, modern political thought gained effective sloganicexpression during the French Revolution (in 1789), incidentally around the time Penang wassettled (in 1786) by the English East India Company. No doubt the motto wasinstitutionalised only a century later during France’s Third … Continue reading →

Strengthening the nation’s sense of common purpose is all the unity government needs to do

Posted by ⋅ ⋅ Leave a comment

By OOI KEE BENG. This article first appeared under the column “Picking on the Present” in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 26, 2024 – March 3, 2024 IT IS TRUE that no political party in Malaysia has ever commanded a large enough majority to govern without the help of a coalition. Barisan Nasional … Continue reading →

On Meaning-making, Nationhood and Country-building for a New Malaysia (Part 1, 2 and 3)

Posted by ⋅ ⋅ Leave a comment

Podcasts with Dato’ Dr Ooi Kee Beng ( Jan 4, Jan 17 and Feb 1, 2024, on Spotify) .

Deconstructing Malaysia, Past and Present

Posted by ⋅ ⋅ Leave a comment

Podcast with Dr Ooi Kee Beng: “Inside Story” on BFM 89.9 — February 6, 2024 (https://www.bfm.my/podcast/evening-edition/inside-story/deconstructing-malaysia-past-and-present)

Taking Physical Space or Making Cultural Space?: Multicultural Peace Depends on Which We Prefer

Posted by ⋅ ⋅ Leave a comment

By OOI KEE BENG, Editorial for February 2024, Penang Monthly SPACE: The final frontier… Good slogan. Classic. Melodramatic, evocative. And totally anthropocentric; to be sure, Space is after all 100% of the Universe, minus this negligible and infinitesimally small pebble we call Earth. But the opening line of Star Trek does work though. Suggestive, bold … Continue reading →

« Older posts