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By Ooi Kee Beng For The Straits Times, 16 April 2013. MOST analysts think the Malaysian general elections will be close. Although Prime Minister Najib Razak is expected to retain a slight edge over his nemesis, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, the social tide, even if significantly weaker, is still with the latter. How then to … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, For The Straits Times, 13 April 2013 WHEN an army becomes restless, the general must fly into decisive action to signal that the waiting is over, and that battle plans are in place. Wearied by months, if not years, of waiting for Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to dissolve Parliament and … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng For THE EDGE, Malaysia, 1-7 April 2013 ABOUT 2,500 years ago, the great Greek Heraclitus famously noted in one of philosophy’s greatest truisms that “no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man”. (No doubt, several Chinese … Continue reading
[Malaysia’s Changing Political Landscape] By OOI KEE BENG for The Straits Times, 29 March 2013 While waiting for the 13th general elections to be declared, campaigned and decided, one should step back and consider how much Malaysia’s political culture has actually changed over the last five years. In fact, the palpable mood of apprehension and … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng For THE EDGE REVIEW, 22 March 2013 A serious prediction of anything important is a throw of the dice. If a correct forecast is made based on secret information about factors that are decisive to an outcome, then that is not really predicting; that’s more like a staged magic act. And … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG A review of The Peranakan Chinese Home: Art and Culture in Daily Life, by Ronald G. Knapp. Photography by A. Chester Ong. Tokyo, Rutland (Vermont) and Singapore: Tuttle Publishing. 2012. Hybridity is the essence of cultural development, and it is largely for political and economic reasons that the process of cultural … Continue reading
A two-party system is now in place, thanks to the spectacular results of the 12th general election five years ago which brought opposition parties to power at the state level. Of the many reasons ventured for this shift, the one that cannot be ignored is the impressive rise in social activism. A strong sense of … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG Editorial in Penang Monthly, March 2013 Everyone should be stunned by how anti-BN forces over the last few years have been able not only to only hold their ground, but also to continue spreading a sense of empowerment throughout the country. My take on how this has been possible is two-fold. … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng for The Straits Times, 15 March 2013 It is a pity that the enhanced conditions for serious competition in policy thinking and policy making that the newly evolved two-party system in Malaysia brings about are so badly infected by non-stop populist campaigning. Instead of things being done because they are good … Continue reading
By Dr Ooi Kee Beng | Yahoo Newsroom – March 11, 2013 [Photo by Bazuki Muhammad, Reuters] Nothing unites a country the way a national crisis does. But although the Sulu militia intrusion in Sabah has indeed made Malaysians want to put aside differences—at least for a while—the seriousness of the situation brings some realisation … Continue reading
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