-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
By Ooi Kee Beng For THE EDGE Malaysia, 30 July 2014 A wave of pessimism and dejection has been pervading Malaysia for quite a long time now. Exactly when it started is hard to say, but what has been obvious is that whatever potential lines of division that can be found in the diversity that … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng For Commentary, The National University of Singapore Society (NUSS). Volume 23, 2014. IF ONE DOES NOT go back too far, one could divide relations between Singapore and Malaysia into the Mahathir period and the Post-Mahathir period. Malaysia’s long-term Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed retired on 30 October 2003, after 22 … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG For YaleGlobal Online, MacMillan Center. 26 June 2014. The world is on the watch for Islamic extremism – recent examples include the execution of some 1,700 Shia solders in Iraq and the kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria. Two dynamics are underway that confound international relations, argues Ooi Kee … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG For The Edge, Malaysia, May 25, 2014 What seems to have happened in Malaysian politics since 2008 is that we have a voter population that is divided right down the middle, and given the nature of the game, this situation is expected to remain for quite a while. We have a … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG Editorial for Penang Monthly, June 2014 This month’s cover is about Malaysia’s brain drain; and what is fascinating is how old—and yet how current—the story reads. Indeed, we should be talking about a Brain Drain Trap, as we do about the Middle Income Trap. And we should be worrying just as … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG The sudden demise of opposition leader Karpal Singh in the early hours of 17 April in a traffic accident on the North-South Highway outside Kampar in Malaysia has left many Malaysians saddened. The sadness is deepened by the thought that he had only a month ago been convicted of sedition. It … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, Editorial, PENANG MONTHLY May 2014 The morning was soft and cloudy—but only for a while. By 10 am, the sun was blazing and having its usual relentless way with Penangites. Perhaps as many as 20,000 of us were already gathered outside the Dewan Sri Pinang, where the body of one of … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG For THE EDGE, Malaysia, April 28, 2014 As they say, one can only tell if a child is well brought up by how it acts—not when it is rested, fed and showered—but when it is exhausted, dirty and hungry. It would be good for Malaysia to turn the disaster of MH370 … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG Editorial for Penang Monthly, April 2014. PM’s cover story this month is about East Malaysia, and how unknown a territory it has always been to Malaysians on the peninsula. To start with, we need to remind ourselves of how troubled the beginnings of the Federation of Malaya actually were—and I don’t … Continue reading
Review of Penang – The Fourth Presidency of India 1805-1830, Volume One: Ships, Men and Mansions, by Mark Langdon. George Town: Areca Books. 2013. By OOI KEE BENG, for Penang Monthly, March 2014 There are several questions about the history of Penang that have bothered me for quite a while, satisfactory responses to which cannot … Continue reading
Wikibeng 