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By OOI KEE BENG, speech at Ayer’s House, given as part of the Adelaide’s History Festival, on 12 May 2025 SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS are very complex matters. I come from a family with four brothers, and two half-brothers and a half-sister. And I have three children from two marriages. Much insights—and moments of exasperation—have been gained … Continue reading
By Dr OOI KEE BENG My being here today, in Adelaide, South Australia, is still a great surprise to me. This is because there are certain geographical journeys in one’s step-by-step trip through life that one does not envisage for a variety of reasons. Australia was never on my to-see and to-do list. I lived … 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
Opening speech at SPOTLIGHT, organised by Penang Art District, held at The Art Gallery on 4 January 2025 Thanks to the Penang Art District (PAD) for giving me the chance to say a few words. Let me start by saying that Penang Institute, though primarily the think tank for the Penang State Government, is basically … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, speech given at the opening forum titled “Pioneering the New Frontier: Technological Innovation, Economic Transformation”, of the 5th World Association Presidents’ Conference (WAPC) held on 2 December 2024 at Wisma MCA, Kuala Lumpur. We can study the New Frontiers confronting us today either from a geopolitical level, or we can do … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, Penang Monthly Editorial, December 2024. BORN WITHOUT ANY spoon of any metal in my mouth, food was a matter of having enough to dispel any passing pang of hunger. Often, it was the drink—plain water or coffee—and not the food that helped. It did not matter how. In any case, lucky … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, for The Edge Malaysia, Picking on the Present column, 2-9 November 2024. THERE IS SOMETHING very exclusive about research institutes and think tanks in Malaysia. This stems from the control over the academic world that was deemed necessary in the early stages of nation building. The need felt by early leaders … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, Penang Monthly 15th Anniversary bumper Issue, October 2024 WE ARE AT one of those self-appraising points in time when we—not only Penang Monthly, but also Penang Institute as a whole—stare hard into the rearview mirror in order to orientate our journey forward. In fact, individually, we do that all the time … Continue reading
By OOI KEE BENG, RSIS Working Papers WP342 18 July 2024 Abstract The last 25 years in Malaysian political history have circled around the personalities of Mahathir Mohamed and Anwar Ibrahim, with several minor (in hindsight) actors playing supportive—or destructive—roles. Although over 20 years apart in age, they have participated in the same protracted play … Continue reading
OPENING SPEECH by Dato’ Dr Ooi Kee Beng, Executive Director of Penang Institute at the Penang Economic Forum 2024, co-organised by Affin Hwang Investment Bank and Penang Institute. 25 June 2024. OVER THE LAST few months, working with the team from Affin Hwang Investment Bank organising this conference has sparked in us at Penang Institute, … Continue reading
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