A City of Cafes
7 min read
A lot has changed in George Town in a few short years. Food of all sorts can now be found around the clock. A new exciting Penang café culture is being born.
One country’s Merdeka is another’s damage control
6 min read
It takes two hands to clap; there is no shore unless there is sea; one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor – as the poet rightly claims.You...
Going Dutch: Lessons in urban amenity from Amsterdam
7 min read
It’s a human theatre conducted against the gracious Golden Age backdrop, where over 7,600 buildings in the city centre alone are listed as “monument...
Penang targets non-traditional tourists
6 min read
Greg Caplan, the founder of Remote Year, was three seas and two continents away when I called him. His team of six was in Slovenia, with 75 Remote Year particip...
Old shops face new realities
5 min read
Pulau Tikus is one of the upmarket districts in Penang. A fair amount of bungalows, colonial buildings and highend condominiums is located in the area, alongsid...
Making Malaysia’s Literary Capital Work
9 min read
Organising a literary festival is no easy task, especially when you’ve only got five months to do it. But passion and determination drove one man and his team to pull it off – and very successfully.
An Art Exchange on Penang’s Walls and Streets
6 min read
Urban Xchange, Penang’s first international street art festival, divided the state’s art sphere between purists and those who dare to be different.
The New Wave of Malaysian Fixi-on
6 min read
Petaling Jaya-based independent publisher Fixi conquered Malaysia's bestsellers charts with a new wave of pulp fiction that dares to defy Islamic conservatism and the country’s alleged low-reading rates.
#jesuischarlie: Will the Real Charlie Please Stand Up?
9 min read
Within hours of the first terrorist attacks in Paris, the hash tag “#jesuischarlie” (I am Charlie) began to rapidly trend on Twitter. As the violence continued for two more days, the hash tag was retweeted more than three million times.
Assorted Measures Needed to Empower Women
8 min read
Five years away from 2020, Malaysia still showcases a dismally low number of women in positions of power. To improve this figure seriously, it is perhaps time to consider implementing gender quotas in politics.
Foreign Students Learning the Hard Way
6 min read
Increasingly restrictive policies related to the issuance of student visas have transformed Malaysia from a rising education hub to a foreign student’s worst nightmare.
Shelter For Those Who Seek Their Way Back
5 min read
From 2000 to 2008, as many as 126,000 cases of drug abuse were reported in Malaysia. Each year brings approximately 14,000 new cases. These drug abusers tend to be young – over 71% of them range from 25 to 29 years old.
