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By OOI KEE BENG, Penang Monthly April 2026 editorial IN THE ENGLISH language, a “hamlet” or “colony” connotes a place of untainted being. Nature is close by, human warmth is at hand and social changes are slow enough to be embraced. But the rural, in practice, is often messy, starting with the domestic and half-tamed … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng for The Edge Forum, 21-28 March 2026 IT IS SAID that pandemics change the world, but in such profound ways that it takes a long time before these changes become obvious. Once the paths they furrow become deep enough to be accepted as “The New Normal”, much of what was the … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG (Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 23, 2026 – March 1, 2026) The line of enquiry whenever Southeast Asian regionalism is mentioned together with European regionalism is how they are comparable, and how they can learn from each other. And given the European Union (EU) has a much longer history … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, Feature in Penang Monthly, March 2026. COSMOPOLIS. That is an exciting word that is full of positive connotations. The original Greek expresses this idea by pairing Kosmos (“world” or “universe”) with Polis (“city-state”). Cosmopolis thus translates into “world-city”, which in short signifies the ideal of a unified political com-munity that absorbs … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, Editorial for March 2026 issue of Penang Monthly. ACTIVE AGEING is a trendy term indeed. It is an inspirating notion, serviceable for policymakers and inspirational for ageing individuals. However, and poignantly, it also implies that passive ageing is the default mode for most old people. This is probably because old people … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on January 26, 2026 – February 1, 2026, under the column “Picking on the Present”. Tensions have increased for European countries between their role as members of the Cold War military organisation Nato, and their long-term ambitions to become a super-state … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, Penang Monthly editorial, February 2026 A MAJOR AND very useful instinct I developed when dabbling in wushu sparring many decades ago was the ability to read movement. This was part and parcel of physical defence, of course. Not only does one have to be fully attentive all the time—and that would … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, Editorial in January 2026 issue of Penang Monthly. MOST OF HUMAN civilisation has been powered by the advancement of group messaging, by the quality and nature of information flows within society. As messaging improved, the size and complexity of society grew accordingly. Language expanded to become scripts. Scripts required scribes, and … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, for The Edge Weekly on December 29, 2025 – January 4, 2026 How are nations — and poles of power — to relate sustainably to each other once the hegemonic basis for globalisation exercised over several hundred years by Western powers becomes untenable? What will be the rationale for international relations? … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, Penang Monthly Editorial, December 2025 NOTHING PROVIDES MORE inspiration for coinage of terms than our five senses. We fashion fundamental words to describe the wide range of information that flows from without onto our body and brain. For example, I am told that the sense of Touch relies on our Skin … Continue reading
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