June 2015 - Penang Monthly

Plan, plan and you will succeed

7 min read

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” From small undertakings to the creation of cities, this holds true and many have found themselves in unfortunate predicaments with few solutions when things are not properly thought out on the drawing board.

by Andrea Filmer

Penang’s Mainland – Seberang Perai by the Numbers

5 min read

The recent Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat by-election and announcement of the Penang Sky Cab cable car system have cast the national spotlight onto Seberang Perai. Let’s take a look at the mainland’s geographical and population demographics.

by Penang Monthly

Art Thefts are Big Business

6 min read

The theft of well-known Indonesian artist Affandi’s Self-Portrait With Pipe (1973), which was sold at the Sotheby’s Hong Kong auction for 5 billion rupiah in May 2014, was solved with the arrest of two suspects in May this year.

by Ooi Kok Chuen

A Muslim Woman Answers the Call to Travel

4 min read

The Haj pilgrimage is familiar to most Malaysians who would have seen photographs of the millions of Muslims who make their way to Mecca to pay homage. But how does it really feel to actually be one among the millions there?

by Carolyn Hong

The Birthday Party – Pinter’s play about power remains relevant

6 min read

Fifty-seven years ago, in late May of 1958, the play The Birthday Party closed after only eight performances of its London debut. It was, of course, a commercial disaster. Worse, it was a critical disaster for its playwright, Harold Pinter.

by Kee Thuan Chye

An Air Ferry for Penang

6 min read

With two bridges linking Penang’s island and mainland, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng now looks towards an aerial connection to stitch more tightly the state’s two halves together.

by Andrea Filmer

Building Batu Kawan Brick by Brick

10 min read

The vast and vacant territory of Batu Kawan – formerly a backwater – is now buzzing with activity and anticipation. It lies at the start of the Second Penang Bridge which opened just over a year ago.

by Andrea Filmer

Bukit Mertajam Offers Some Rare Authenticity

6 min read

Bukit Mertajam might be well off the tourist map, but it has much more to offer than what its reputation as George Town’s satellite suggests. We take a walk to the town’s centre and meet its protagonists.

by Marco Ferrarese & Chan Kit Yeng

Butterworth Beckons: A Bright Future Awaits East Penang

13 min read

It lies just 3km across the North Channel from George Town, but for most island side Penangites, Butterworth is a world away.

by Andrea Filmer

Renminbi Rising – Slowly But Steadily

8 min read

On the one hand, the use of RMB has expanded by leaps and bounds in trade settlement in offshore financial centres with the support of the Peoples’ Bank of China, while discussions in China are still addressing the basic issue: can the internationalisation of the RMB be expected to benefit China?

by Herbert Poenisch

Herbert Poenisch

Penang on the Verge of a Revolution in Waste Management

7 min read

Applying bacteria technology to recycle waste, a Penang company is turning our mounting throwaways into liquid fertilisers, reducing the need for landfills.

by Angela Tritto