Moving beyond manufacturing
7 min read
AS A MAJOR manufacturing country, Malaysia is necessarily a huge market for many imported commodities. It is important to clearly identify the more expensive im...
PSDC 3.0 - bridging the gap between Policy-making and industrial needs
4 min read
IN MARCH 2010, members of the PSDC Management Council were in Phuket for its highly important bi-annual Offsite Meeting. Such gatherings are now a tradition and...
Information in restricted public space
7 min read
ONE OF THE FUNDAMENTAL pillars of any modern democracy is a free mass media. It is through transparent and responsible reporting by independent journalists that...
The 1867 Penang riots
6 min read
Volunteers manning a barricade.FORTY-YEAR-OLD Lieutenant-Governor A.E.H. Anson, a veteran of the Crimean War, had just arrived in Penang to take up the ap...
Curitiba - an ideal city of buses
4 min read
Dylan PassmoreLIKE MOST CITIES, George Town has traffic problems. This is illogical as the city has less people today than say, 40 years ago. The populati...
Sign of the times
5 min read
DATO' KERAMAT in Penang is a rundown, crowded neighbourhood just outside George Town's CBD and heritage zone; putting it bluntly, not exactly the location of...
The serious brain drain problem
18 min read
MALAYSIA SUFFERS a voluntary emigration of people of different races and religions who possess talent, skills and knowledge. Their decision to settle in other c...
Penang's Place in the 10mp
9 min read
Active local governance needed more than everThe 10th Malaysia Plan is now announced. Analysts have generally found it wanting in detailed information. More i...
Just a minute
3 min read
Hungry Ghost FestivalThe Hungry Ghost Festival is celebrated on the seventh month of the lunar calendar. During this time, the gates of hell are opened...
Buses bring economic benefits
10 min read
IntroductionIt is not customary for Malaysians to see cost and benefit reports for public investments, even though fiscal spending on development projects h...
EMC lab to encourage product designing
6 min read
From september 2010 onwards, Penang can boast an EMC laboratory of its own. This cutting edge technology determines whether or not a new electronic product desi...
Civil servants at an impasse
5 min read
Since taking over several state governments, one of the areas the Pakatan Rakyat has had to contend most with is the civil service. A majority of the bureaucrat...