Ooi Kee Beng

Penang Envisions an Inclusive Future

Keynote speech given at Canon Malaysia’s “Think Big” Conference on 9 September 2025 at Holiday Inn, Bukit Mertajam. PENANG INSTITUTE PROVIDED much of the thinking, the research and the ground support in the creation and socializing of the Penang2030 vision and masterplan, along with Think City and the Chief Minister’s Office. We decided to publicize … Continue reading →

Relying on the Proximate and the Immediate to Keep Sane in a Virtual World

By OOI KEE BENG, Editorial, September 2025, Penang Monthly WE LIVE WITHIN narratives, don’t we? Our identities are built on them. Our collective identities are definitely group memories woven by time into stories and narratives, and into memories and myths. For places and times for whom there are few stories, we use terms like “prehistorical”, “no … Continue reading →

Time for ASEAN to Punch in its Heavyweight Class

By OOI KEE BENG The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) may be proudly considered one of the great achievements of diplomacy in the world. For the region itself, the initiative has allowed for the various member states to be cognizant of each other’s differences and difficulties. Be that as it may, it has yet … Continue reading →

Front Row Podcast on Dr Goh Keng Swee

Awake in Time for a Terengganu Sunrise

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 →

Standing Up for a More Equitable and Inclusive Global Future

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 →

Dealing With the Droppings of Daily Life

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 →

Putting Southeast Asia’s Multilateralism to Good Future Use

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 →

Exclusive Interview on GDToday: ASEAN-GCC-China Summit aims to create a multi-polar world

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 →

Defining Penang Exceptionalism through its Geography, its Biology and its Human History

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 →