Tang Hon Yin – In Search of Magical Margins
7 min read
Still Life (30 x 21cm. Gouache on paper, 1959).THE Tang Hon Yin Retrospective is a fitting culmination of the artist’s Space Odyssey of half a centu...
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.
Penang Art Society – Doing Art with Open Arms
4 min read
Penang Art Society, established in 1953, is the oldest registered art society in the state, celebrating its 65th anniversary last August with an exhibition at the Penang State Art Gallery, where 160 pieces of art by its members went on display.
Penang – Motherland of Musicians
9 min read
As a small state, Penang is certainly not short of talent – perhaps it’s in the water we drink. It has produced many musical geniuses throughout the...
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Smells Like Indie Spirit
5 min read
Penang in the 90s. Independent music had just exploded onto the scene and the air was electric with Nirvana and Metallica.
Buskers with a Cause
6 min read
It is quite surprising for musicians who have countless hours of practice under their belts spent more on music lessons than their parents would want to recall and who have all played frequently in professional settings at one time or another, to perform for free.
The Teenage Kotai Singer
4 min read
At 19 years old, Catherine Wong is one of the youngest kotai (“song stage” in Hokkien) singers in Penang.
Ensuring Teochew Opera Has A Future
4 min read
Ling Goh was born into a family of Teochew puppets and opera performers. Her great-grandparents, Yang Bing Jin and Li Yu Feng, were performers in China who came to Penang to continue the trade with their son, Yang Qing Ying, Goh’s grandfather.
Penang’s Very Own Choir
4 min read
To complement the Penang Philharmonic Orchestra, the mixed choir Voices of Penang Philharmonic was rejuvenated in 2016.
Play it Again, Penang!
11 min read
It would be difficult to discuss Penang’s classical music scene without mentioning Datuk Woon Wen Kin, founding president of the Penang Symphony Society, established in 1981, and leader of the Penang Symphony Orchestra (PSO), Penang Wind Orchestra (PWO) and Penang Junior Orchestra (PJO).
Telling the Astounding Stories of Malaysia’s Para Athletes
4 min read
Last October, I was in Jakarta to be with the Malaysian contingent competing in the Jakarta Asian Para Games. The minister and I wanted to spend as much time as...
Realities of Living on the Clan Jetties
5 min read
The Clan Jetties community has been living with the sea as backdrop for generations. This inseparable connection with their environment has formed an essential part of their identity, alongside the constant struggles in their daily lives.
Vestiges of Penang’s Entrepot Days
7 min read
As the last surviving Chinese surname jetties in Penang today, the beginnings of the Clan Jetties are intertwined with the island’s once-bustling entrepot...
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