By Ooi Kee Beng For The Edge Malaysia (Column “Picking on the Present”), 27 May to 3 June 2023 New nations by virtue of being “new”, suffer immediate ontological challenges. Not only does this concern its very existence as an integrated geographical entity, a national economy and a united polity, but also its acceptance by … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, May 2023 PENANG MONTHLY starts a new series, where we, once a year, talk to the Chief Minister of Penang. We met up with YAB Chow Kon Yeow after lunch on Saturday, 4 March 2023, at Penang Institute for the first interview in the series, CM Update. Ooi Kee Beng: CM, state … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, Editorial in Penang Monthly, May 2023 ALL SOCIALLY INCLINED animals start life by crying for food. Beyond that, they seek safety and comfort. After that, the need to train their bodies for the future takes over. If there are siblings, they begin to fool around with each other, in the process, … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, in “Picking on the Present”, for The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on April 24-30, 2023 Allow me to dream a while about Malaysia. Malaysia is a divided country, but it is often stated how lucky a place it must be for it to have functioned so peacefully despite the odds stacked against it … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, April 2023 Editorial, Penang Monthly THE TERM “creative economy” sometimes sounds like an oxymoron in that human creativity is more often than not associated with the arts, executed more for passion and as individual expression than for making money. But like with so many things today, we have to consider seriously the … Continue reading
Ooi Kee Beng in conversation with CPO Shuhaily Zain (Penang Monthly, February 2023) DATO’ MOHD SHUHAILY ZAIN became Penang’s Chief Police Officer (CPO) during the Covid-19 pandemic. He was quickly recognised locally as a dynamic leader who is highly conscious of the important role in social development that the police has, or should have. Penang … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, in The Edge Malaysia (Picking on the Present), 26-31 March 2023 WE GET TO know what White is by knowing what Black is, and then deepen our understanding of them by fathoming how the two interact. The same goes for Unity, the operative term in Malaysian governance today, and understanding it … Continue reading
For Penang Profile in Penang Monthly, March 2023 PENANG MONTHLY continues its interview with Penang boy, Danny Quah, recognised by Stanford University to be among the 100 most influential academics in government in the world. He studies “the supply and demand of world order, i.e. on the one hand, what international system the world’s superpowers provide, … Continue reading
Penang Monthly, January 2023 One of the most influential academics and economists in the world today is Penang boy, Danny Quah. A citation impact study done in 2020 by Stanford University placed him in the top 1% of scientists in the world, in effect recognising him to be among the 100 most influential academics in … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, Editorial for Penang Monthly, March 2023 MUSIC HAS ALWAYS been a phenomenon to savour for the great thinkers. One can sense how these master craftsmen of words relished being stumped when it came to analysing music. Compared to how eloquent they could be about almost anything else, they were simply at … Continue reading