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.

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A publication of Penang Institute, Penang Monthly is the voice of Penang - an inspiring read for the curious Malaysian, featuring stories about the people, ideas, and issues shaping the state's well-being. Sign up for a free account to enjoy unlimited access to all our articles.

Garbage Graves of Penang

8 min read

Most of us are happily unaware of where our garbage goes after leaving our bins. Very few of us on the island know that our rubbish takes a sea cruise from the Batu Maung Waste Transfer Station on barges to their final resting place on the mainland.

by Khor Hung Teik

Khor Hung Teik

In Between Heaven and Earth

7 min read

Cheah Teng Hong is the director of Corporate Finance at the World Bank, where he has been since 1981.

by Kee Thuan Chye

The miracle of Penang Jazz

7 min read

The Seventh Penang Island Jazz Festival was spread over four days in early December 2010. It may not yet be “seventh heaven” but it is something of a small miracle that this festival started, survived and has begun to flourish.

by James Lochhead

James Lochhead

Freeing education from politics

5 min read

New nations tend to suffer from excessive politicking. Being moderate in many ways, politicking in Malaysia has permeated most aspects of nation building, bringing effects that are more long-term than if we had not been so moderate. This is most obvious in the field of education.

by Zairil Khir Johari

All that Rozz-matazz

7 min read

It has been five years since Rozz first lit up Bagan’s stage with his electric takes on classic torch songs and Broadway numbers. With undeniable panache, Rozz fluidly melds the worlds of the masculine and the feminine.

by Rosalind Chua

Rosalind Chua

Life on the List

14 min read

ENOUGH TIME has now passed for PEM to start asking what the most significant and noticeable changes are, and what people have learned from the fact that George Town is now under global scrutiny, what measures are crying out to be taken, and what the future holds for this newly recognised treasure.

by Jeffrey Hardy Quah & Rosalind Chua & Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Rosalind Chua

The Shafee Yahaya Story: Estate Boy to ACA Chief

5 min read

This is a narrative about Datuk Shafee Yahaya, former Anti Corruption Agency (ACA) chief who assumed the position from June 16, 1994 to September 11, 1998, written by his wife, Datin Kalsom Taib.

by Wazir Jahan Karim

Wazir Jahan Karim

The fine art of estimating economic health

10 min read

When reports say that the economy is growing at six per cent, this number is the change in the real (i.e. adjusted for inflation) gross domestic product (GDP) over a one-year period.

by Chan Huan Chiang

Chan Huan Chiang

Being a part of what you paint

9 min read

FOR ALL HIS FAME and extraordinary skills, Tan Choon Ghee never got to be fabulously rich. Not that he minded that much, though once in 1980 he did publicly fulminate at the abject lack of art patronage.

by Ooi Kok Chuen

Horst Rosenmueller : Knowing what motivates others is the key

5 min read

In 2008, we established an R&D centre here in addition to the R&D Group based in Regensburg, Germany to provide better support for our Asian customers and to position for future business in this region.

by Poh Heem Heem

Poh Heem Heem

Happiness is a Haircut

6 min read

Goonalam started off his career by working at his grandfather’s shop in Pulau Tikus. He then plied his trade off the Tanjung Bungah main road for a while before permanently relocating to his current location in Jalan Concord. There he has been for the last 32 years.

by Daniel Lee

Lighting the way

4 min read

CAMBODIA IN THE early 1990s was not the investment location of choice for the “big guns” of the Western business elite, despite its proximity to the Asian Tigers.

by Rosalind Chua

Rosalind Chua

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