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By OOI KEE BENG. Editorial for Penang Monthly, November 2022 SINCE INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL became possible post-Covid, I have, for various reasons, been staying in at least five countries for substantial periods of time, including in Malaysia. A common change that took place between 2020 and 2023 seems evident to me. In all of the countries, … Continue reading
Podcast with Ooi Kee Beng, [EP2] “Spill the Teh” Penang Institute podcast, November 2022 In this special episode leading into Malaysia’s 15th General Election, we look back at the nation’s first generation of leaders and what made them effective nation-builders, with a particular focus on Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, Malaysia’s second Deputy Prime Minister. … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, Penang Monthly Editorial, October 2022 URBAN CENTRES, by their very nature of having concentrated populations, tend also to place people from different backgrounds in close proximity to each other. These people have to share space; they have to share smells, sights and sounds, and they have to tolerate differences. Tolerating differences … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG. This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on September 26, 2022 – October 02, 2022. SOME CAMPAIGN ISSUES for the next general election are already becoming clear. But much still depends on how the coalitional possibilities work out. Should the Malay-based parties manage to come together for electoral expediency and … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on August 29, 2022 – September 04, 2022. MERDEKA! I was two years old when the Federation of Malaya gained independence from Great Britain. So, in essential ways, I was born to be free. Born into a country being allowed to empower itself in the Age of Nations … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, Editorial in Penang Monthly, September 2022 DEAR CITIZEN, who cares for you? Or more succinctly, who should care for you? When we talk about the Care Industry (as we are doing in this month’s magazine), we consider the “clients” in each case, be it in healthcare, childcare, eldercare and so on. … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, Penang Monthly Editorial, August 2022 AS WITH Singapore three decades later, Penang, on being taken over by the British in 1786, immediately depended on the benefits of being a free port. The contingencies of such an economy quickly came to define most of what we consider Penang Culture today. This unique … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG for The Edge Malaysia, 27 July 2022 FOR MALAYSIA post-Vision 2020, what can a systemic reset mean? Will changing governments change the system enough? Will reforming this or that legislation or even a constitutional principle alter the societal dynamics of this diverse country? Maybe. Maybe not, with a much stronger leaning … Continue reading
ABOUT 30 years ago, a very influential Malaysian scholar wrote the following incisive and insightful paragraphs: “I contend that, like most social phenomena, identity formation takes place within what I would call a ‘two social reality’ context: first, the ‘authority-defined’ social reality, one which is authoritatively defined by people who are part of the dominant … Continue reading
ONCE UPON A time, information was generated slowly and carefully. The time and distance between thought, expression, dissemination and reception were substantial. Most of us do realise that the disruptions that information & communication technologies bring are inevitable. They are a flood that you ride and manoeuvre, or that you drown in. Standing by the … Continue reading
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