With Enough Optimism, Success Will Come
6 min read
It must be strange for Datuk Abdul Malik Abul Kassim, 62, to tell people about the street where he was born. Originally named Jalan Yahudi, that small throughfa...
November 2025
This November, Penang Monthly explores language, place and memory. As GTLF returns, we highlight Penang’s multilingual streets and the dialects that keep local history alive.
Halal: An Industry with a Bright Future
9 min read
For eight years now, the Penang International Halal Hub (better known as Halal Penang) has been setting the trend for the halal industry both domestically and b...
Trishaws – Another Sunset Industry
3 min read
Choo Yew Choon produces and repairs trishaws. In fact, he is the fourth generation in his family running the business. He took over the business, Hup Huat, in 1...
Green Homes at the Edge of George Town
9 min read
It was the 1930s and the coconut oil business in Penang was booming.Well-known self-made tycoon Yeap Chor Ee sensed the potential and bought over an oil plant...
A Model for Libraries of the Future
5 min read
As the Digital Age develops, we find ourselves constantly experimenting with new ways to improve what we are already doing: from publishing to manufacturing to...
Malaysia is Like a Plate of Nasi Kandar
5 min read
Nasi Kandar as we know it today would be almost unrecognisable to those living during the time of its origin. In the bustling streets of colonial George Town, m...
The Word and the World (Part Two)
15 min read
Penang emerged as a significant print centre during the nineteenth century. In turn, this helped spur the development of a market for all kinds of published mat...
The Budget Speech Is NOT the Budget (Part One)
7 min read
Parliament must appear very strange for the uninitiated. After all, the Westminster system that Malaysia models itself after is an old and quaint one. There a...
Still Promoting Art After All These Years
7 min read
Syaiful Rachman from Redsea Gallery (Singapore).It isn’t easy to start something and keep it going for 10 years, maintaining more than a modicum of...
Making People Talk Business is Penang’s Business
6 min read
At the Ninth China MICE Industry Golden Chair Awards ceremony held in Beijing in April 2016, Malaysia was voted among the top 10 best international destinations...
Kampung Melayu – Preserving Tradition amid Change
4 min read
Sheikh Omar Basheer Al-Khalidy's house.Deep within Air Itam is a community rich with historic and religious significance – Kampung Melayu. The villa...
Healing and Housing Needy Children
5 min read
The children were shown how to make scrumptious egg mayo sandwiches and potato salad by G Hotel’s executive sous-chef, Chef Ketut Gede Dodi....
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