Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

is the Executive Director of Penang Institute. His recent books include The Eurasian Core and its Edges: Dialogues with Wang Gungwu on the History of the World (ISEAS 2016).

312 posts

A Digital Revolution in Healthcare Has Arrived in Malaysia

14 min read

On March 12, 2022, Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Dr. Noor Hisham bin Abdullah, Director-General of Health for Malaysia, was awarded the inaugural Dr. Wu Lien-Teh Award for...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Penang: Once Cosmopolitan, Always Cosmopolitan

3 min read

URBAN CENTRES, by their very nature of having concentrated populations, tend also to place people from different backgrounds in close proximity to each other. T...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Of Urban Parochialism And Rural Cosmopolitanism

2 min read

The thing is, the line between urban and rural is no longer as clear as before, and therefore the association between urbanity and cosmopolitanism—a tie that has been shaky from the start in any case—becomes ever more tenuous.

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

A Good State is an Inclusive and Caring State

3 min read

DEAR CITIZEN, who cares for you?Or more succinctly, who should care for you?When we talk about the Care Industry (as we are doing in this month’s magazine), we...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Penang Initiatives at Enabling Decentralisation

7 min read

Penang Initiatives at Enabling DecentralisationON 30 MAY 2022 at the newly renovated Penang State Assembly building, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow released the I...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Trusting Remains a Process that Takes Time in the Information Age

3 min read

ONCE UPON A time, information was generated slowly and carefully. The time and distance between thought, expression, dissemination and reception were substantia...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

What Do Straits Do—Separate or Connect? [Part One]

3 min read

DOES THE PENANG Strait separate Seberang Perai from Penang Island or does it connect one to the other?This question is not as glib as it may sound at first read...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

On Urbanity and Wealth, and the Future of the Countryside

3 min read

URBANISATION IS AN oft-cited sign of radical socio-economic changes in a country.The process at some point could be one of necessity, where the agricultural sec...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

The Podcast – Relief for the Distracted

2 min read

THE RADIO WAS the key vehicle for the spread of popular music during my generation. In Penang, where would all those who were in their teens have listened to go...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Respect All Persons, and Gender and Other Equalities Will Follow

3 min read

IT IS UNFORTUNATE that in most minds, the term “Feminism” more often than not, merely raises issues regarding the relatively-disadvantaged status of women as me...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Journalism's past and Penang's future

3 min read

At a time when journalism – as a social activity more than a salaried profession – is booming beyond measure in Malaysia, a fact proven by heighte...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Is Man’s Ultimate Success His Ultimate Failure?

3 min read

THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY of life, all life forms have had to adapt to environmental conditions beyond their control as best they can. Where environmental changes...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng