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

Governments and citizens who should be grateful to them?

2 min read

An important issue that should surface during coming debates about the impending Goods and Services Tax (GST) is how it affects the basic relation between the...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Reading and Writing Yourself Free

3 min read

The basis for human liberty as we understand it today was laid with the advent of universal literacy. When reading and writing stopped being the sole right...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Representativeness is the basis of social harmony

2 min read

I remember spending a lot of time in my teenage years wondering how societies are possible. Noticing how difficult it is for people to get along, I wondered w...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Can Our Cuisine Remain the Same While We Change?

3 min read

Mr Ong Jin Teong, in his admirable book Penang Heritage Book: Yesterday’s Recipes for Today’s Cook (Singapore: Landmark Books, 2010), noted forlor...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Toward a political culture that suits a two-party system

2 min read

Following the General Election in 2008, BN had the strange situation of being in the opposition in five states. Before March 8 that year, it only had that rol...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Let's Perfect The Two-Party System

2 min read

The pattern of change in Malaysia became ever more discernible after the 13th General Election. While the ruling BN understandably wishes to describe its vict...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Let’s not go back to the late Abdullah era

2 min read

One important effect of the March 8, 2008 elections was that it forced the BN government in Putrajaya into crisis management. That became the responsibility o...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Federalism is Still The Future

2 min read

Let’s face it. Whatever the election results, certain things will not go away easily.For one thing, Malaysia will be ruled by a coalition for a long t...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Change in Life's Norm

2 min read

It’s April now, the month at the end of which the Malaysian Parliament has to be dissolved to make way for general elections to be held, and within 60 d...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Malaysians Done Making Do

2 min read

Everyone should be stunned by how anti-BN forces over the last few years have been able not only to hold their ground, but also to continue spreading a sense...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Amazed, Enthused and Amused by Music

3 min read

Computer-generated imagery, better remembered as CGI, has radically changed the movie industry. Anything can now be made to look extremely real on screen, and w...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Time for Penang to Lead Again

2 min read

Penangites are one proud people. That is not even a controversial statement. They are proud of their food, their history and their geography.Don’t get...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng