Commentaries

The Khat Controversy in Malaysia — A Dicey Storm in a Massive Teacup

Should We Build a United Nation? Or Simply a Just State and a Healthy Economy?

By OOI KEE BENG, Editorial for Penang Monthly, August 2019. Malaysians use “Nation building” as an umbrella term for all the processes required to turn a given territory into a secure, prosperous and united country. The contentiousness involved in “nation building” is obvious, and the path towards secure nationhood and a free and happy society … Continue reading →

Malaysia’s lowering of the voting age and the huge forces fueling the change

The Reformasi movement will now be continued by the next generation of Malaysian youths, says Penang Institute’s Ooi Kee Beng. (CNA Commentary, Singapore. 31 Jul 2019) PENANG: In 2018, six decades after the Federation of Malaya first held elections, the Malaysian parliament made two sweeping changes to the Constitution. First, to automate the voter registration … Continue reading →

Are SDGs Enough to Moderate Neoliberal Excesses?

By Ooi Kee Beng for The Edge, Malaysia. July 28, 2019. In the period between the world wars—or more precisely, in the wake of the October Revolution in Russia and the fall of empires throughout the world; and in the midst of the 1930s’ Great Depression—a search for moderation between the capitalist world and the … Continue reading →

Things Gain Value as They Disappear

By Ooi Kee Beng Editorial in Penang Monthly, July, 2019 What did heritage conservation look like or sound like in the pre-modern age when things changed slowly, and conservatism was not an ideology but a social default; when great changes that eradicated what we would today call tangible and intangible cultural heritage came only through … Continue reading →

Asean’s nation-region nexus under great strain

By Ooi Kee Beng for The Edge Malaysia, July 1-7, 2019 Introvertedness is so much a part of nationalist discourses that we are often blind to it. This is as true of Malaysia as of any other country, including major powers like the US and China. The resilience of the collective state of mind that … Continue reading →

Do You Remember Having a Memory?

By Ooi Kee Beng Editorial, Penang Monthly June 2019 Have you noticed that one easy way to look cool nowadays is to carry a book with you? It can sit leisurely in your hand or be lightly squeezed under your armpit. And it should preferably be a thick one. And if you don’t have a … Continue reading →

Flying the Jalur Gemilang again, and not the Jolly Roger

By Ooi Kee Beng, for The Edge Malaysia, 6 June 2019. It is not as yet clear that Shared Prosperity 2030 will be the wherewithal for federal policy-making in the coming decade. The chosen goals are socioeconomic — that much is apparent — but building a nation is much more complicated a task than can … Continue reading →

After a year in power, has Pakatan Harapan learnt enough to save Malaysia from itself?

By Ooi Kee Beng, for CNA, 9 May 2019. PENANG: The big debate in Malaysia one year after the change in government on May 9, 2018, concerns the unfolding nature of Pakatan Harapan (PH). No one seriously doubts that it has charted a vastly different path for the country from that set by the Barisan … Continue reading →

Should Malaysia ride the coming EV disruption or stay with the norm?

By OOI KEE BENG. For The Edge Malaysia Weekly, April 29, 2019 – May 05, 2019. The advent of electric vehicles (EV) offers opportunities for cities and countries to limit and reverse the use of unclean and non-renewable energy sources. But for that to happen, quite a bit of imagination in policymaking and public behaviour … Continue reading →