What Are We to Do With You Millennials?
3 min read
I HAVE TO admit something. Before returning to Penang to work in 2017, I had hardly ever used the word “millennial”. Looking back, I think that was because I wa...
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.
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Is Side Hustling an Obsession, a Privilege, or Already a Norm Today?
5 min read
MY FATHER HELD more than one job when I was growing up. A school teacher on a meagre salary in the 70s, he had to not only feed and clothe the family, but also...
When Did You Last Look Up at the Stars?
5 min read
Overcast weather aside, Penang’s night skies offer the best of both worlds, providing vistas that stargazers from the global north, where the hobby has gained traction (think North America and Europe), have to fork over tens of thousands of dollars to travel to see.
A Caffeinated Career Journey
4 min read
The café culture in Penang, which took off in the late 2000s has grown in tandem with the global coffee industry. Baristas are one of its major pushers, being intermediaries between the coffee industry and consumers of the café culture.
Melati Sarawak Debuts on Stage in Penang
4 min read
IT IS SAID that the first modern novel written in Sarawak, and very likely the first in Malaysia, is Melati Sarawak. Written in Jawi and self-published by Muham...
Penang Strives and Thrives Against Global Macroeconomic Headwinds
8 min read
ACCORDING TO THE latest World Economic Outlook report published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), global economic growth has slowed from 6% in 2021 to 3...
The Educational Origins of Penang’s Skills Mismatch and Brain Drain
4 min read
EDUCATION IS REGARDED as a human right today. Therefore, most modern states, barring those who expressly consider public education to be a threat to their conti...
Social Capital Required for Upgrading Parks
5 min read
ONE OF THE main ways of environmental conservation is establishing nature parks or protected areas. Signatory countries of the UN’s Aichi Target 11 aspire that...
Rising Inflation and Escalating Cost of Living
5 min read
SUSAN (not her real name) is a home caterer who started her own business after losing her job during the pandemic lockdown. Though business had been good at fir...
Do You Know What State Assemblymen’s Assistants Do?
4 min read
We speaks to Benji Ang Ming Quan, Special Assistant to the Political Secretary of the Penang Chief Minister, YB Teh Lai Heng, about what state assemblymen and their assistants do.
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