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By OOI KEE BENG, Editorial in Penang Monthly, October 2013 An important issue that should surface during coming debates about the impending Goods and Services Tax (GST) is how it affects the basic relation between the government and the Rakyat. The curse of having ample natural resources – which Malaysia has suffered from to a … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG Editorial for Penang Monthly, September 2013 I remember spending a lot of time in my teenage years wondering how societies are possible. Noticing how difficult it is for people to get along, I wondered what the key mechanisms are underlying the impressive stability one finds in societies whose members can number … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG For The Edge, Malaysia September 29, 2013 A popular confession often voiced by Malaysians is that they as a nation lack a sense of maintenance, especially of public goods. House-proud they may be; nation-proud they wish very much to be; but upkeep of their surroundings is not something they take to … Continue reading
BY OOI KEE BENG, EXCLUSIVE TO THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER SEPTEMBER 04, 2013 In thinking about 2013, the year the Federation of Malaysia celebrates its 50th anniversary, one cannot but compare the national atmosphere to that in 2007, the year the Federation of Malaya celebrated its 50th anniversary. I remember that the New Straits Times under … Continue reading
Dr Ooi Kee Beng, the deputy director of the Institute of South-east Asian Studies, talks to P N Balji about why Malaysia-Singapore relations are on a high, how attitudes on both sides have changed and whether the abang-adek relationship is still a simmering factor. For The Independent, October 2, 2013 (http://theindependent.sg/how-good-are-singapore-malaysia-ties/) Q. Malaysia- Singapore relations … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG For The Edge Malaysia, 28 July 2013 The spill-over of political activism beyond the country’s borders which led to tens of thousands of Malaysians living abroad to return at substantial economic cost to themselves to cast their votes on May 5 this year testifies to a new sense of optimism in … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG Editorial in Penang Monthly, August 2013 Following the General Election in 2008, BN had the strange situation of being in the opposition in five states. Before March 8 that year, it only had that role in peripheral Kelantan. Despite the fact that Perak fell back to BN through defections soon after, … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng For The Edge, Kuala Lumpur, July 1, 2013 When flying from Singapore to Macau via Hong Kong International Airport, like I just did, one is treated to some of the best and most efficient that modern infrastructural technology and planning in Asia have to offer. You board a comfortable plane at … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG Editorial, Penang Monthly July 2013 The pattern of change in Malaysia became ever more discernible after the 13th General Election. While the ruling BN understandably wishes to describe its victory as a reversal of trends that became apparent in 2008, too many other movements are saying the opposite, which is that … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng Editorial in Penang Monthly June 2013 One important effect of the March 8, 2008 elections was that it forced the BN government in Putrajaya into crisis management. That became the responsibility of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak when he replaced Tun Abdullah Badawi as Umno president and as Malaysia’s Prime Minister … Continue reading
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