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By OOI KEE BENG, Editorial, Penang Monthly March 2018. We should not forget that in the days before social media and news websites, the flow of information – basically through schools and through daily newspapers, television and radio stations – was highly centralised and easily controlled. Then came the 1990s, and the internet took over … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, for The Edge Malaysia, Feb 26 – Mar 4, 2018 A new era is upon us. This is no longer a controversial statement as far as I can gather. Indeed, it is a boring truism by now. A new page in our already speedy times has been turned, and it is … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, Editorial in Penang Monthly, February 2018 I assume anyone reading this has some time or other been one of those strange global creatures, disliked by some for their transient but disruptive presence and loved by others for their willingness to consume hastily and at inflated prices. I am talking about tourists. … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng This article first appeared as “Back to Reformasi” in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on January 29, 2018 – February 04, 2018. The return of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to the forefront of Malaysian politics at the age of 92 — 19 years after he sacked his deputy … Continue reading
With the announcement that Mahathir is the opposition’s pick for prime minister should they win the next election, UMNO can expect a credible challenge on its home turf, says Penang Institute’s Dr Ooi Kee Beng. By Ooi Kee Beng, for Channel News Asia, 08 Jan 2018 KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s parliament will be dissolved sometime during … Continue reading
OOI KEE BENG, Editorial for Penang Monthly, January, 2018. The ICT revolution has been taking place all my adult life: I bought my first home computer in 1990 when I was 35, my first mobile phone a decade later, and then my first smartphone about a decade after that. I am already into my fifth … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng For The Edge Malaysia, December 25-31, 2017. Reprinted in Penang Monthly, February 2018. Freedom cannot be understood apart from power. Like with all good dichotomies, it is never clear where the one turns into the other, or lives off the other. Today, it is a staple in management courses and sloganeering … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, Editorial, Penang Monthly, December, 2017 Yes, Penang has amazing food, be it fusion or hybrid, street or mall, traditional or accidental. And yes, it has amazing desserts too, like the Penang Road teochew chendol for one. Even the age-old ais kacang. Even the humble bebola ais. And don’t get me started … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, “This Week in Asia” in South China Morning Post, 6 December 2017. AFTER ALL the analysing done by pundits on Malaysia’s political dynamics in the post-Mahathir period, the country has now come to the strange point of being in a potential pre-Mahathir period. There is now the more-than-theoretical possibility that 92-year-old … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng for The Edge Malaysia Weekly, November 27, 2017 – December 03, 2017. Strangely, moderation is not a subject that needs to be discussed and elaborated upon. It is the default position in any stable society. Instead, it is the nature of extremism — especially when it is happily growing within a … Continue reading
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