Keepers of Heritage
7 min read
Suffolk House, the Carpenters’ Guild Loo Pun Hong, Han Jiang Ancestral Temple… the Penang Heritage Trust (PHT) has been a bastion for Penang&r...
September 2025
This September, we explore Seberang Perai Selatan. Our stories cover Nibong Tebal’s Teochew heritage and sugar legacy, Batu Kawan’s evolution into a township, Penang’s waste challenges at Pulau Burung, the brackish rivers of the south, and the communities that shape the district today.
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What We Talk About When We Talk About Heritage
7 min read
It’s the word du jour, “heritage”. International organisations vote to acknowledge and list it (for protection purposes, among...
Handling the Intangibles: Heritage Management in George Town
14 min read
The road to becoming a World Heritage site was not easy for George Town and Melaka – the paperwork, inventorying, filing and so on all required exhaustive work.
In Search of a Place to Call Home
7 min read
In Butterworth, 10-year-old Mohamed Noor is playing football with his friends in an alley behind a row of shophouses. The children are speaking fluent...
Not Just Passing Through: Marine Mammals Are Native to Our Northwestern Shores
5 min read
MANY MOONS AGO, as a young post-doctoral scientist just returned to Malaysia after a decade of studying abroad, I was looking for a site where I could begin my...
Blue Carbon: A Fragile Defence Against Climate Change
5 min read
LIGHT SPILLS ACROSS the still waters of Middle Bank, one of the largest groves of seagrass in the Strait of Malacca. Crabs and cockles find shelter beneath undu...
Interview With Nik Nazmi: Moving Malaysia Towards Renewable Energy
9 min read
When Nik Nazmi became the Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change (NRECC), a ministry with one of the broadest portfolios, he had to hit t...
Carla’s Peak: A Gem on the North Coast of Penang Island
5 min read
THE PICTURESQUE NORTH coast of Penang is the poster child for the island’s natural beauty, featuring golden beaches flanked by steep, densely forested hills. Jo...
Plastics Are Strange Presences, and They Are Not Going Away Anytime Soon
5 min read
WITHIN THE BEAUTY and bizarre logic of plastic is the potential it projects. It heralded multitudes of possibility in form, chemistry and design. The mass produ...
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Printmaking Art: A Mature Art Form Disrupted by New Techniques
4 min read
PRINTMAKING ART IS produced by transferring visual images or drawings from a carved or etched surface (e.g. wood block or metal plate) onto paper through a proc...
What One Sees on Middle Bank and Pulau Gazumbo
3 min read
Photos by Liam Wong.ON 20 APRIL, Penang Institute staff, guided by Prof Zulfigar Yasin and Hanis Razalli, visited the soon-to-be Middle Bank Marine Sanctuary an...
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Middle Bank - A Walk Through Penang's Secret Seagrass Garden
5 min read
TRADITIONALLY CALLED Pearl of the Orient, Penang was once surrounded by unpolluted seas, which were exemplified by habitats of coral reefs. Unfortunately, rapid...
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