The Apom Sellers of Pulau Tikus
2 min read
As the perfect side to the morning’s breakfast or as accompaniment to one’s afternoon tea, the apom is a light, healthy and inexpensive snack.For...
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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Choong Kam Kow: Fusing Eastern and Western Aesthetics
6 min read
Born in Ipoh in 1934, Choong Kam Kow began his art journey in the 1950s. Trained in Taiwan and later New York, he built a career in art education while shaping his identity through contemporary art over seven decades.
Kuih Kapit – Love Letters to be Consumed Crisp and Fresh
5 min read
The melt-in-your-mouth kuih kapit is a huge favourite, and not just during the Chinese New Year celebrations. Legend has it that kuih kapit was once used by lovers to communicate covertly, hence its more poetic name, love letters.
Our Food Goes Wherever We Go
4 min read
Totem Park Maggi Mee (Dormitory version)Ingredients:1 x packet of Maggi Mee1 x eggInstructions:Boil water. Pour into rice cooker and turn on.A...
Economy Rice Stalls – A Digest of Malaysian Struggles
9 min read
On the surface, the concept of economy rice is deceptively simple. You will always recognise the economy rice stall. There will be a simple buffet-style display...
Permaculture – No Green Thumb Required; Just Passion
8 min read
My grandfather had a garden where he planted flower bushes, fruit trees, vegetables and herbs. Before I was born, he reared chickens and geese, but I suppose he...
Dikir-Dangdut and the Defiant Spirit of Kelantanese Women
6 min read
ROSALINDA KEPT HER head down and her eyes fixed on the floor as she walked out of the Gua Musang Lower Syariah Court in June 2014. Hot on her heels was a throng...
Jawi Pekan Cuisine – Unique to Penang, Yet So Evocative of Other Foods
5 min read
Along Lebuh Armenian, where the Jawi Pekan – or Jawi Peranakan – traditionally settled, is the family-run Jawi House establishment. Chef Nurilkarim...
A Bright Future Awaits Oyster Farming in Penang
5 min read
A farmer handling baskets of oysters.Before the 1980s, oysters in Malaysia were mainly cultivated in the wild, harvested between mangrove roots and expose...
James Dollery Fettes of Penang Waterworks: A Life of Civil Engineering and Service (Part Two)
9 min read
DURING A MEETING on 30 April 1909, the President of the Penang Municipal Commission, James Wilson Hallifax, asked Leonard Moore Bell how long “the new engineer”...
Antibiotics in Animal Feed May Be on the Way Out
3 min read
WE ARE WHAT we eat, as the saying goes. We keep diligent tabs on our food consumption by studying food labels for their ingredients, nutritional values and bene...
A Future for Fig Farms in Malaysia
3 min read
RESEARCHERS FROM the School of Biological Sciences at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) have developed tissue culture techniques to produce healthy fig pl...
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