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By OOI KEE BENG, January 2023 Editorial in Penang Monthly. EDUCATION IS REGARDED as a human right today. Therefore, most modern states, barring those who expressly consider public education to be a threat to their continued exercise of political or religious power, have felt duty-bound to provide some level of formal schooling to every one … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, Picking on the Present column in The Edge Malaysia, 26 December 2022 A UNITY GOVERNMENT never sounds like something one should be opposed to, and for good reasons. What is interesting about such a government though, is that they become necessary in a democracy when the posturing and the stances taken … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, in The Straits Times, 26 November 2022 AGAINST GREAT ODDS, and despite time threatening to run out for him, Anwar Ibrahim, at 75 years old, is now Malaysia’s Prime Minister. With that, a new era appears to dawn for the country. However, chances are, this change will not be as immediately … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG. The Edge Malaysia, 21-27 November 2022 THE TRANSITION FROM colonialism to national independence did not start and end with celebrations on Aug 31, 1957. For starters, it was not so much national independence that was nominally declared that day as the founding of a new country. That country — Malaya — … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, The Edge Malaysia, October 24-30, 2022 MUCH HAS HAPPENED in Malaysia over the last 25 years. Not only that, in fact, so much profound change has happened to the political landscape in the country that it is now actually quite unrecognisable. I returned to the region in 2004, just after Tun … Continue reading
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
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
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