Editorial - Penang Monthly (Page 4)

A Tsunami of Cultural Disruptions is on the Horizon

3 min read

The digital revolution that in recent years has been pigeonholed as Industry 4.0 in reality transforms modern life in more ways than merely through new products...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Words and Music—Two Sides of the Sense of Hearing

3 min read

MUSIC HAS ALWAYS been a phenomenon to savour for the great thinkers. One can sense how these master craftsmen of words relished being stumped when it came to an...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

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...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

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...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Physical Needs Set the Standard and Pace for Intercultural Relations

3 min read

THERE ARE CERTAIN aspects to human cultures which are more universal than others – largely by virtue of the fact that they deal with physical needs more than wi...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Penang: Once Cosmopolitan, Always Cosmopolitan

3 min read

URBAN CENTRES, by their very nature of having concentrated populations, tend also to place people from different backgrounds in close proximity to each other. T...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Of Urban Parochialism And Rural Cosmopolitanism

2 min read

The thing is, the line between urban and rural is no longer as clear as before, and therefore the association between urbanity and cosmopolitanism—a tie that has been shaky from the start in any case—becomes ever more tenuous.

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

A Good State is an Inclusive and Caring State

3 min read

DEAR CITIZEN, who cares for you?Or more succinctly, who should care for you?When we talk about the Care Industry (as we are doing in this month’s magazine), we...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

Trusting Remains a Process that Takes Time in the Information Age

3 min read

ONCE UPON A time, information was generated slowly and carefully. The time and distance between thought, expression, dissemination and reception were substantia...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

What Do Straits Do—Separate or Connect? [Part One]

3 min read

DOES THE PENANG Strait separate Seberang Perai from Penang Island or does it connect one to the other?This question is not as glib as it may sound at first read...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

On Urbanity and Wealth, and the Future of the Countryside

3 min read

URBANISATION IS AN oft-cited sign of radical socio-economic changes in a country.The process at some point could be one of necessity, where the agricultural sec...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng

The Podcast – Relief for the Distracted

2 min read

THE RADIO WAS the key vehicle for the spread of popular music during my generation. In Penang, where would all those who were in their teens have listened to go...

by Dato' Dr. Ooi Kee Beng