By OOI KEE BENG, for The Edge Malaysia, 1 September 2018 The intuitive conclusion drawn by many that a sea change took place when the government in Malaysia changed hands on May 9, 2018, has its merits. But as in all functioning democracies—and nowadays I count Malaysia among them—a majority vote generally means that almost … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng in Southeast Asian Studies Vol 41. No. 2, September 2003 [http://www.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/seas/41/2/410202.pdf ] Abstract Eurocentrism continues to inform the political discourses of former colonies like Malaysia to a large extent. Solid ethnicities were constructed and concretized, first conceptually and later through institutional means, to ease the governance of distant lands by Europeans … Continue reading
By Ooi Kee Beng, in SARI 21 (2003), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. pp.57-75 [http://www.ukm.my/~penerbit/sari21-05.pdf] Abstract: As interest in Southeast Asia increases in tandem with the region’s economic development, and lately as a result of global tensions, Islam as cultural and political factor is now of such importance that the academic division of Southeast Asia into a … Continue reading