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By OOI KEE BENG, in The Edge Malaysia, Oct 27 – 2 Nov 2025. The deepest legacy that colonialism left behind in Southeast Asia are the nation-states that now control the colonialists’ contingently-defined territories. By and large, all these countries were born during the Cold War that followed the Second World War. This tells us … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) may be proudly considered one of the great achievements of diplomacy in the world. For the region itself, the initiative has allowed for the various member states to be cognizant of each other’s differences and difficulties. Be that as it may, it has yet … 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 WHAT IS ON offer for Malaysia to take advantage of in the psycho-political atmosphere of the post-Covid19 era, and in the midst of the so-called trade war between the USA and China? No doubt, since this is an ongoing process and how these tensions will rise or dissolve are difficult to … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, for The Edge Malaysia, 25-31 August 2024 THE MULTIPOLAR WORLD is upon us. And the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has a vital role to play. The need for it to evolve—to finally mature, some would say—to meet new challenges posed by the post-unipolar era is strong, and this is … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, “Picking on the Present” column in The Edge Malaysia, 22-29 June 2024. IT HAS CONSTANTLY been said of Malaysia that it is “at a crossroads”. That is more a glib statement about the contingent nature of the country and the compromised nature of its politics than it is an insight about … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, for The Edge Malaysia, 27 October 2014. South of China, east of India and north of Australia, much is about to happen. This is besides the endless outbreaks of diplomatic antipathy and maritime scuffles between claimant states in the South China Sea, all poignantly signifying Beijing’s inevitably enhanced role in East … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng For THE EDGE, Malaysia,30 March 2014 One trend is quite certain in these uncertain times, and that is that China’s political economy’s impact on the world will increase for a long time to come. For the Big Powers, China’s rise is understood sometimes as a win-win situation, but oftentimes as a … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng For THE EDGE, Kuala Lumpur. 28 April 2012. With Myanmar opening up faster than anyone ever expected the question how ASEAN is to develop as a community in the near future gets ever more interesting. “A chain is only as strong as its weakest link” is of course a saying … Continue reading
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