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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/.
PENANG PROFILE, Penang Monthly, June 2026 AS USUAL, THIS column highlights an exciting personality from Penang, no doubt because of what they have achieved, but more importantly, to showcase their infectious passion for the state of Penang and their ability to inspire its next generation. I query Ch’ng Huck Theng, a conspicuous artist and businessman, among … Continue reading
PENANG IS FULL of inhabitants who were not born here. In fact, there is some oft-repeated “test” to decide if someone not born on the island is truly a Penangite or not. So far can the triviality over identity go. On a good day, I think of Penang as an inclusive, if ironic, entity, having a … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG for “Picking on the Present” in The Edge Malaysia, 22-29 May 2026 About 20 years ago, I had the pleasure of having dinner at the home of Robert Kuok and his wife Poh Lin. It was memorable for many reasons, but not least for something he said which stuck with me … Continue reading
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