A Convincing Case for Farquhar
7 min read
The present always becomes the past. And the past in turn is something that slowly settles, obscuring as often as it educates; and in time it becomes hardened t...
The Art of Dismantling Cultural Pluralism
5 min read
Malaysia is a special place for its natural geography and its human history, but most importantly of all, because of its demographic complexity.The peninsula...
The Diminishing of Humans through Identity Politics
3 min read
Who am I?A simple question to ask oneself, and yet, no simple answer suggests itself. As long as the issue is about the singular person, it appears to be but...
Enough With Penang Food Already! What About the Drinks?
3 min read
Yes, Penang has amazing food, be it fusion or hybrid, street or mall, traditional or accidental. And yes, it has amazing desserts too, like the Penang Road te...
We Are Equal Only Through Our Vote
4 min read
Freedom cannot be understood apart from power. Like with all good dichotomies, it is never clear where the one turns into the other, or lives off the other.To...
Penang Should Make the Most of Transiting Cruise Tourists
3 min read
I assume anyone reading this has some time or other been one of those strange global creatures, disliked by some for their transient but disruptive presence a...
How Penang’s Early Prominence was Lost
15 min read
The early decades in the life of Prince of Wales Island did not see it living up to the expectations of its administrators, especially as a ship-building port...
Justices of the Peace: An Institution at Risk of Being Forgotten
11 min read
As a colony of the British, Malaya inherited the tradition of appointing Justices of the Peace (JPs) from among its prominent individuals and community leaders....
Catharsis – The Rebirth of Malaysia Finally Begins
9 min read
MAYBE IT WAS because the transition took so long, and opposition parties had had a chance to rule certain states for two terms and made change in government an...
It all seems so simple now...
3 min read
INTO THE GREAT dining hall, the children came. The guards at the gates do their best to keep as many of them out as possible, but they are too few, and the chil...
In Lieu of Race and Religion
4 min read
One can easily see how southern South-East Asia – being largely maritime, ethnically very diverse and geo-economically a collection of trade routes &ndash...
A Malaysian Spring for the Intelligentsia?
4 min read
I know Malaysia is a tropical country, but let’s adopt a concept from temperate zones without having to be politically sensitive about it. We are in the m...