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By OOI KEE BENG For THE EDGE, Malaysia, April 28, 2014 As they say, one can only tell if a child is well brought up by how it acts—not when it is rested, fed and showered—but when it is exhausted, dirty and hungry. It would be good for Malaysia to turn the disaster of MH370 … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, Editorial for PENANG MONTHLY, January 2014 We have just entered a new year—again—so allow me to kick off this magazine’s fifth year in its present form with some observations about the central importance of narratives—of stories, if you like—to every individual human being. We all have a large schemata in our … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng For THE EDGE, Malaysia, 1-7 April 2013 ABOUT 2,500 years ago, the great Greek Heraclitus famously noted in one of philosophy’s greatest truisms that “no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man”. (No doubt, several Chinese … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng (For YAHOO. 18 Jan 2013; see http://my.news.yahoo.com/political-picnicking-in-kl-042544037.html). On 12 January 2013, an estimated 100,000 Malaysians managed to pull off the latest in a series of demonstrations in the country’s major city, Kuala Lumpur. This time, it went practically without a hitch. There were none of the clashes with police that had … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng For TODAY, 5 Dec 2012 As United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) general assemblies go, the one held last week was rather tame in its rhetoric. It was certainly memorable for its lack of vitriolic language. And it was expectedly so – therein lies its significance. Things were quite different back in … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, For ISEAS Perspective, SINGAPORE, 26 Nov 2012 INTRODUCTION Malaysia’s Parliament has to be dissolved by the end of April 2013, following which Malaysians must go to the polls within 60 days. Nothing significant about that, except that this 13th general election is a critical one which will decide how the country’s politics … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng For THE EDGE, Malaysia (29 October 2012) Under the rubric of Nation-building, countries throughout modern times have been struggling to construct institutions that can safeguard national independence, bring economic growth, and create a harmonious society. Thus, small and new countries like Malaysia have been frantically trying to put their house into … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng In Penang Monthly [December 2012] and in New Mandala, Australia National University, 26 September 2012 There is an anecdote told among close acquaintances of the late Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, Malaysia’s feared and respected Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister in the early 1970s, that he once in confidence said … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng For The Edge, Kuala Lumpur, 24 September 2012 Its very name is magic…Istanbul. All its old names are magic… Byzantium … Constantinople. They conjure images of ancient civilizations, always fighting each other, and sometimes enriching each other. But in the end, they had to merge to leave a skyline that fascinates … Continue reading
PENANG MONTHLY editor Ooi Kee Beng and Roketkini editor Wan Hamidi Hamid interview Professor Tariq Ramadan on the sidelines of the 3rd Penang in Asia Lecture organized by Penang Institute at the Traders’ Hotel, 17th July 2012. The writings of Tariq Ramadan have often been criticized for being contradictory, and in this conversation, they to … Continue reading
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