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By Ooi Kee Beng, Editorial, Penang Monthly July 2025 MY WARDROBE IS overflowing. With no Spring Cleaning habit for tropical people like me, my short-sleeved and long-sleeved shirts hang next to each other, expanding year by year. My trousers are much too few in number, and have been relegated to the lower section. My short … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng ASEAN is almost seven decades old. The wish to get along despite cultural diversity and political differences is a value in itself. One should ask why ASEAN has survived so long despite an underwhelming track record. What is it that its founding fathers understood, and how precious are the lessons learned … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, June 2025 Editorial in Penang Monthly. “Does Penang Exceptionalism still exist?” That question was put to me recently by a learned and slightly agitated visitor. I assume the query stems from distress over how recent developments in the state have been too much, too hasty, and too uncontrolled. It is a … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, for The Edge Malaysia, in the column “Picking on the Present”; 26 May – 1 June 2025. AS A RULE, one should focus more on structure, purpose and process when talking about Governance. This is all the more important when one is to discuss the notion of “Good Governance”, and the … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, in The Edge Malaysia’s column “Picking on the Present”, 17-25 April 2025 Continuing the line of thinking presented in this column last month, on “Recognising Colonial History as the Genesis of Malaysian History”, we are given a shocking current example of how excessive nostalgia for post glory, by its nature, always … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng A shorter version published on 13 April 2025 by South China Morning Post as “Decoding Trump’ s tariffs and the world’s multipolar future” can be read at South China Morning Post, 13 Apr 2025: https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3306221/decoding-trumps-tariffs-and-worlds-multipolar-future?display=plus Perhaps what the world is missing in trying to make head or tail of Trump’s tariff … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, April 2025 editorial in Penang Monthly. I AM IN THE foothills of the peninsula’s main mountain range, off Gopeng. It is early morning, 7am. From the balcony of my room, I throw pellets from a bag provided by the hotel to the multitude of pink and gold fish in the pond. … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, in The Edge Malaysia, 22-29 March 2025. AS WESTERN POWERS go into crisis mode again, and as the global structure within which the nations of the world relate to each other evolves beyond recognition, there is great need for historians to step up. Their voice is needed to help us analyse, … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, Penang Monthly March 2025 Editorial I AM STRONGLY convinced that as long as children continue to be brought up to learn behaviours and imbibe ideas that certain groups of humans are inherently worth less than others, we can expect human civilisation to not be much more than an exercise in Damage … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng , for The Edge Malaysia, 21-28 February, 2025 AS THE TSUNAMI of earth-shaking executive orders bursts out of Trump’s Oval Office, the world tries to stay upright. Our legs seem rubbery though. Now we know what collective vertigo feels like. For now, the shock is greatest for Washington’s closest allies. Learning … Continue reading
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