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By OOI KEE BENG Penang Monthly Editor’s Column — March 5, 2015 Democracy is a big word, and like all big words it is given to controversy and misuse. Since the magazine’s cover story this month and in April will be about local elections and local governments, it may be suitable to discuss what Democracy … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG for THE EDGE MALAYSIA, 22-28 February 2015 Malaysian political disagreements have deteriorated to a level quite unthinkable in the minds of the founding fathers. Name-calling of the type, “I’m not a racist, you are”, is now common, and does no credit to the country’s reputation. When childish quarrels take the place … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, for THE EDGE Malaysia, 31 January-6 February, 2015. Aiming for maximum effect, the anti-poverty organisation Oxfam International megaphoned just before the World Economic Forum began in Davos, that the wealth gap has become incredibly huge. It released a study indicating that the richest one percent is on the brink of owning … Continue reading
Cover Story for Penang Monthly, February 2015 By OOI KEE BENG fe•tish noun \ˈfe-tish also ˈfē-\ : a strong and unusual need or desire for something : a need or desire for an object, body part or activity for sexual excitement : an object that is believed to have magical powers Standfirst: Building a nation … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, Editorial for Penang Monthly, February 2015 Have you ever thought about apparently different things, only to find out as you go along that they are totally linked trains of thought? And what starts out as a multitasking undertaking leads in the end to an epiphany of a sort. This is not … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, for THE EDGE Malaysia, 21 December 2014 There is no doubt that the standard of English in Malaysia has fallen badly over the last few decades. And this is true for all Malaysian communities, even the Eurasians. It is a generational phenomenon made all the poignant because Malaysians started out having … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, Editorial for Penang Monthly, December 2014 Education is a key issue in nation building; and in no other country has that been more evident than in Malaysia where so much contestation since the 1950s has been about school types and the language of instruction. As soon as self-governance was obtained in … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, Editorial for Penang Monthly, November 2014 Let’s get serious about global communication. In the Age of Nationalism, which is what we continue to live in, we tend to forget that communication between peoples requires a range of compromises, not least of all in the use of language, in the use of … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng Editorial, Penang Monthly, October 2014 At a time when journalism—as a social activity more than a salaried profession—is booming beyond measure in Malaysia—a fact proven by heightened contestations in the public domain, and by government attempts to intimidate and harass all types of non-supporters, it is important that we pause and … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG Editorial in Penang Monthly, September 2014 There is much to worry about in the world today, 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, ewhich should give us reason to pause and consider what the long-term, persistent and negative consequences of the cultural shrinking of the world actually are. Politically, … Continue reading
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