Civil servants at an impasse
5 min read
Since taking over several state governments, one of the areas the Pakatan Rakyat has had to contend most with is the civil service. A majority of the bureaucrat...
Secrets only ghosts can know
5 min read
Director Glen Goei.Drama, intrigue, satire and revelations of family secrets await those who are lucky enough to get a chance to watch director Glen Goei&...
Putting Penang’s waterfronts to work
5 min read
The Prangin Canal, Penang.Penang’s history and development has always been linked to the sea. Since the British East India Company sailed into Penan...
A man who always made an impression
7 min read
I was stunned when a friend called from Penang on June 19 to tell me that Gan Teik Chee had just died. As far as I knew, Teik Chee had been health-conscious, wa...
Turning disability into a national asset
8 min read
An intellectually-disabled person working in a retail outlet.Disabled people in the Malaysian workforceMalaysia is signatory to numerous conventions on...
Parables, Prophets & Pillocks
5 min read
Datuk Tay Hooi Keat, “Weld Quay, Penang”, 1968-80, 60 x 90 cm, oil on canvas.Cecil Rajendra is a pioneering human rights lawyer and acclaimed...
A matrix to predict Penang’s population distribution
9 min read
There is a policy document, I am told, that says 40% of Penangites shall, in the near future, be living on the island and the other 60%, on the mainland. One...
E&E sector as a National Key Economic Area
4 min read
2010 promises of economic transformation in Malaysia. The key message is loud and clear – Malaysia must not become a middle-income country which loses its...
A bowl of porridge doesn’t come easy
4 min read
Ooi Phaik Choo has not always been a hawker. She was formerly a seamstress but now sells pork innard porridge with her husband, Woo Yew Weng, a former electrici...
Penang’s development still depends on the PDC
5 min read
Ever since the PDC was formed in 1969, it has spearheaded Penang’s development into a modern economy. The PDC’s groundbreaking industrialisation eff...
Emilies of Emerald Hill
4 min read
EMILY OF EMERALD HILL is a classic drama that traces the life, loves, travails (and recipes) of an overbearing Singaporean Nyonya trapped in her gilded cage. Th...
No liveable city without good coastal access
5 min read
Penangites are a lucky lot. Besides luxuriant hills, a city centre worthy of being classed a Unesco World Heritage Site and endless tasty street foods, they get...