Baba Nyonya culture in Penang and Phuket
8 min read
When I First walked down Thalang Road in Tongkah, the old town of Phuket, several years ago, I was reminded of the streets of Penang.
January 2026
Our January issue explores how artificial intelligence is redefining work, security and everyday life, from the promises of automation and digital finance to the ethical questions it raises about creativity, ownership and the future of human thinking.
Getting Good Bacteria to Green Penang
6 min read
Parallel to its programmes for formal education, the Penang Skills Development Centre (PSDC) is introducing the “Greening Penang Initiative” to mobilise members of the public to do their bit to preserve the environment on this beautiful but industrialised island.
Democratising women
6 min read
“ Change” was the rallying cry in the last general elections which managed to excite voters throughout Northern Peninsular Malaysia. One of the basic changes needed, and often more implied than expressed, is the betterment of the economic, social, legal and political situation of Malaysian women.
We are the led-ing light
5 min read
Penang has built its reputation as the Silicon Island of the East through its almost 40 years of experience in the export-oriented electronics industry. Today&r...
Finding Penang’s niche
2 min read
From left to right:Professor Dr p. Ramasamy, Penang Deputy Chief Minister ii; Lim Guan Eng, Penang Chief Minister; Liew Chin Tong, seri executive director and...
By George Town! A festival to inherit
4 min read
Penang celebrates its Unesco Heritage status with a pulsating fiesta. Performances by local and foreign talents will fill the whole month of July, giving no one an excuse for missing it.
Cleaner, greener Penang
2 min read
Will Penangites finally learn to use the mysterious orange object? “It’s not easy being green,” sang Kermit the Frog, it hasn’t been for Penang either, and the state once dubbed the “rubbish bin of the Orient” by a former prime minister has struggled to live down this label.
A Personal Penang Treasure That Can Be Revived
7 min read
Kee Thuan Chye returns in his mind to the village his great-great-granddad built. Sungai Bakap, after being bypassed by development, has lost much of its past glory. But the Kee family home is still there, reeking of history and other fragrances, waiting for another turn in its fortunes.
Between faith and hope
7 min read
Forlorn letterboxes in a Rifle Range block.When Khoo Cheng See started the House of Hope five years ago, she had no idea what she was getting herself into...
The man who industrialised Penang
6 min read
A politician may point the way, but without competent and dedicated civil servants to do the work, not much gets done. Luckily, Dr Lim Chong Eu had Chet Singh on his side.
Good hearing and a light touch
11 min read
From the successful development of Korea’s steel and shipping industries to Israel’s software cluster, and from the US’s semiconductor giants to Japan’s automobile empire, the “visible hand” of government has been involved, and due credit is now being given them.
Colonial Penang's pre-modern roots
3 min read
Penang under the East India Company 1786-1858Andrew BarberAB&A. 2009; Hard cover;160 pagesReview by Ooi Kee BengThe salience of the approach Barber ch...
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