June 2026

Discover Penang Monthly’s June issue: explore the stories behind Penang’s enduring heritage brands, the richness of its multilingual and multicultural heritage, innovative local businesses, community-led initiatives, and the challenges shaping the state’s future. From family enterprises and semiconductor pioneers to traditional food, festivals, education, and environmental sustainability, this issue celebrates Penang’s resilience, identity, and capacity for renewal.

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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.

Exploring Bukit Batu Itam: Penang National Park’s Highest Peak

6 min read

While most visitors opt for the trails leading to Pantai Kerachut and Teluk Kampi, one path excites hikers seeking a challenge— the Bukit Batu Itam trail. Rising to 460m above sea level, Bukit Batu Itam is the tallest peak within PNP.

by Rexy Prakash Chacko

The Living Legacy of Penang’s Chinese Cemeteries

5 min read

Penang is home to many such public cemeteries. With the earliest ones dating back to the early 19th century, these sites are the result of the rapid growth of the early Chinese community, and more significantly, indicates the settling down of Chinese immigrants in Penang.

by Pan Yi Chieh

Brewing Connections: Penang’s AeroPress Community in Bloom

4 min read

2025 marks the third year Nine Lives Coffee Roasters (NLCR) has hosted the Malaysia Aeropress Championship in the northern region. This time, it was held at Moonshine Bakehouse on Andaman Island, Penang.

by Aqilla Latif

Teochew Gong Tek Funeral Rituals: Staging the Yulanpen Sutra

7 min read

It is believed that the performance of the story from the Yulanpen Sutra or Mulian Saves His Mother from Hell during the gong tek ritual helps the soul of the dead to journey safely and quickly towards rebirth, or to Western Paradise, the auspicious and heavenly world where Amitabha Buddha resides.

by Prof. Dr. Tan Sooi Beng & Tan Yng Ling

Threads of Change: Weaving Waste Into Art

7 min read

Kelsey Merreck Wagner was trained in printmaking and ceramics. Since the very beginning, her art has been deeply tied to environmental concerns close to her heart. It wasn’t until 2017 that she decided she wanted to weave.

by Sheryl Teoh

Dignity, Despair and Decision: The Ethics of Euthanasia

8 min read

In contemporary bioethics, euthanasia is commonly defined as a deliberate intervention undertaken with the intention of ending life to relieve intractable suffering, a definition that may mask the deep human anguish at its centre.

by Nisha Kumaravel

The Many Hands Behind a Muslim’s Final Journey

5 min read

From the home or hospital where death is certified, the mosque where prayers are led, to the burial ground and the gravestone where names are carved into, each pair of hands carries the deceased a little further along their final journey.

by Carolyn Khor

When Goodbye Is Not the End

6 min read

“Amazing Grace”, was written in 1779 by John Newton, who spent the first 20 years of his life faced with hardships after his mother passed away when he was six. Later in life, Newton faced many near-death experiences, and this, he documents in this hymn.

by Hazel Lim

Keeping the Art of Death Offerings Alive

5 min read

When people die, they take nothing with them to the afterlife. Or do they? In the Chinese Taoist and Buddhist beliefs, the deceased do.

by Lim Wan Phing

Behind the Wheel: The Physical and Mental Toll of Driving Express Buses

5 min read

Responses in news articles and social media posts after accidents tend to do the following: Blame the bus companies. Blame the road conditions. Blame the drivers. Where lie the faults?

by Samantha Khoo

Relying on the Proximate and the Immediate to Keep Sane in a Virtual World

4 min read

Narratives are, by their nature, a collective event and a social event; in sum, they are an exercise of power as well, a nexus where different wills and opinions wrestle each other to emerge with as much claim to being true as possible.

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Nibong Tebal: A Heritage Haven on Penang’s Mainland

12 min read

To the Chinese community, Nibong Tebal is known as 高渊, or ko-ean in the local Teochew dialect, which is both a transliteration of the Kerian River that runs through the town and a reference to the said river’s deep currents.

by Teioh Nuan Ning

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