Comparing Values Across Space and Time
4 min read
912 BATU ROAD is novelist Viji Krishnamoorthy’s literary debut. It tells the harrowing tale of love and loss between two families, the Tans and the Iyers, over...
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.
Crafting Voices: An Interview with BFM’s Lee Chwi Lynn and Sharmilla Ganesan
6 min read
MANY YEARS AGO, an unnamed German programme director, in conversation with Walter Benjamin, recalled how his first foray into broadcasting did not quite go acco...
How to Strengthen Your Financial Health
3 min read
Disclaimer: This article is a discussion of good practices and not official advice by a financial advisor.“MONEY IS NOT about finances, it’s about emotions”[1],...
Muntri – A Peaceful and Charming Street Just a Step Away from the Madding Crowd
4 min read
LEBUH MUNTRI IS a relatively quiet street that runs parallel to the bustling Lebuh Chulia, one of the main trading streets in George Town. Research suggests tha...
Events
3 min read
THEATREPlague-infested London of 1603 is coming to terms with lockdowns and loss. Jay Menon's latest work A Plague Upon Your House explores how Will became Shak...
Introducing Intuitive Eating
4 min read
WE ARE BORN intuitive eaters; as babies, we cry out for milk when we are hungry only to push away the bottle after we are filled. But as we grow up, rather than...
Invisible No More: Esteeming Housewives and Household Chores
6 min read
Ti’s struggles border on stereotype for many Malaysian “housewives” or women who “do not work”. Unlike vocational women, they are seen as having no tangible achievements and thus not deserving of any measurable reward.
Accepting Bodily Imperfections and Physical Variations
5 min read
SHOWN, HIDDEN, CELEBRATED, hated. Our bodies have never been more scrutinised in recent years. From advertisements promoting remedies for underarm wrinkles, the...
The Rise of "Exotic Flowers": A Brief History of Formal Education for Chinese Women in Penang
5 min read
THE PREVIOUS FEW articles on Chinese prostitutes in Penang Monthly cast light on the plight of early Chinese female migrants to Malaya and Singapore. These wome...
Women's Personal Care Expenditure in Numbers
6 min read
A SIGNIFICANT DRIVER of economic growth for Malaysia is its market for personal care, wellness, health and fashion. The skin care industry, for example, is proj...
Becoming More Active as One Ages
4 min read
SOUTHEAST ASIA HAS a longstanding tradition of filial piety, with duties of elderly care being shouldered and shared among younger family members. There is simu...
Tiger Artists Born in Years of the Tiger
5 min read
Tyger, Tyger, burning bright,In the forests of the night;What immortal hand or eye,Could frame thy fearful symmetry?- &...
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