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By Ooi Kee Beng. Penang Monthly Editorial for August 2025 THE MOON WAS full two nights ago. I sit now on the first-floor patio of my friend Fazil’s beach house. This is in Marang, just south of Kuala Terengganu. It is 5.30 in the morning. The regular passing of trucks and cars pulsates at an erratic … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, “Picking on the Present” column in The Edge Malaysia 21-26 July 2025 THE SHOCK AND AWE approach that President Donald Trump’s Project 2025 clearly depends on, when exercised on the international stage, has brought about a whole range of reactions from governments all over the world. At one pole, you have … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, Editorial, Penang Monthly July 2025 MY WARDROBE IS overflowing. With no Spring Cleaning habit for tropical people like me, my short-sleeved and long-sleeved shirts hang next to each other, expanding year by year. My trousers are much too few in number, and have been relegated to the lower section. My short … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng ASEAN is almost seven decades old. The wish to get along despite cultural diversity and political differences is a value in itself. One should ask why ASEAN has survived so long despite an underwhelming track record. What is it that its founding fathers understood, and how precious are the lessons learned … Continue reading
The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)-GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council)-China Summit held on May 27 in Kuala Lumpur shed light on the collaboration among Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and China amid Trump’s tariffs worldwide. In an exclusive interview recently, Ooi Kee Beng, Executive Director at Penang Institute, Malaysia, noted that the summit, gathering 10 … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, June 2025 Editorial in Penang Monthly. “Does Penang Exceptionalism still exist?” That question was put to me recently by a learned and slightly agitated visitor. I assume the query stems from distress over how recent developments in the state have been too much, too hasty, and too uncontrolled. It is a … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, presentation at the Baichuan Forum: “Global South in Transition: Geopolitical Dynamics and Development Cooperation”, 24-25 May 2025, Organised by CUHK-Shenzhen and Iinstitute for International Affairs, Qianhai Adopting different timespans provide for different glimpses of the subject in question. Different timespans also impact the concepts being used to decide them. This weekend, … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, for The Edge Malaysia, in the column “Picking on the Present”; 26 May – 1 June 2025. AS A RULE, one should focus more on structure, purpose and process when talking about Governance. This is all the more important when one is to discuss the notion of “Good Governance”, and the … Continue reading
https://www.penangmonthly.com/tag/may-2025/ I reached my 70th birthday in May 2025. My dear colleagues, led by my old friend Liew Chin Tong, Malaysia’s Deputy Minister for International Trade and Investment, decided to use the May issue of Penang Monthly (of which we are co-founders) to highlight what they see as my contributions in leadership and parenthood, and … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, speech at Ayer’s House, given as part of the Adelaide’s History Festival, on 12 May 2025 SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS are very complex matters. I come from a family with four brothers, and two half-brothers and a half-sister. And I have three children from two marriages. Much insights—and moments of exasperation—have been gained … Continue reading
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