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By Ooi Kee Beng, 3 December 2011, in TODAY, Singapore The leader of the Youth Wing declared at the United Malays National Organisation’s (UMNO) annual assembly held this week that the opposition parties had been vehemently opposing the Peaceful Assembly Act because they were hoping to create the conditions for widespread demonstrations in the hope … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng Editorial for Penang Economic Monthly [www.penangmonthly.com] What would happen if every car is obliged by law to have a CCTV camera mounted in front of the driver, which immediately beams his face prominently onto an LED screen fixed on the roof of the vehicle for the world to see? Simple answer, … Continue reading
In Today & The Malaysian Insider (Oct 31, 2011) THE FLURRY OF Malay organisations making the news in Malaysia bodes well for the country, whether or not these group together extreme rightists, opposition voices, concerned students or professors, or green or human right activists. The matter has now become too obvious to be denied, which … Continue reading
PEM Editorial — November 14, 2011 A HISTORY of Public Space in post-colonial countries is long overdue. Such a narrative would be a powerful one indeed if it also adopts the fall of empires as its background. We no longer ponder about the strange phenomenon of the string of empires – colonial or traditional – … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng For TODAY, Oct 10, 2011 THE ANNUAL BUDGET is a powerful weapon for the Malaysian government, and never more so than when national elections are impending. Mr Najib Razak’s third budget as Prime Minister, announced last Friday, definitely signals that elections are indeed on the way. Beleaguered as his government must … Continue reading
For some reason, Penang has produced many economists who have made substantial impact on the global stage. Prof Woo Wing Thye of Thean Teik Road is one of the foremost among them. As a young boy, he was curious about the outside world, and managed to clear his own path to the top, always helped … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng [Editorial in Penang Economic Monthly, October 2011] Calling a spade a spade is easy enough when you live in a small monolingual and mono-cultural society – such societies are necessarily small. But try doing that in a multilingual and multicultural place like Malaysia, and you quickly realise that a lot of … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng For TODAY, 17 Sept 2011 MALAYSIAN Premier Najib Abdul Razak’s sudden announcement on Thursday night that he would very soon be repealing several unpopular laws, including the Internal Security Act (ISA) of 1960, should have won him praise from most quarters. But it did not. Instead, a general wait-and-see sense of … Continue reading
by Ooi Kee Beng For TODAY, 2 Sept 2011 On July 9, the streets of Kuala Lumpur played host to animated engagements between demonstrators and the police. Bersih 2.0, which started out as a simple and hesitant attempt to revive public interest in electoral reforms, became a huge demonstration that captured the imagination of many … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng [PEM September 2011 Editorial] From August 2, 2011, the name of the research centre that produces this magazine is changed from seri to Penang Institute. While there are several reasons for this evolution, the change that it signals most strongly is the realisation that social research in Penang and Malaysia – … Continue reading
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