Penang Monthly

Penang Monthly, by Penang Institute, is the voice of Penang, offering insights on its people, politics, economy, culture, and society, with a focus on local and national issues for curious Malaysians.

817 posts

The Winning Formula: Why Investors Choose Penang

17 min read

TO A FIRST-TIME VISITOR Penang can feel like it’s stuck in a time warp, caught between its colonial trading past and electronic manufacturing heydays; san...

Rocking For Our Rights

5 min read

The frontman of indie punk band Maharajah Commission in action.WHAT BETTER WAY TO reach the masses, especially young adults, than through music? Bob Dylan...

Selangor Passes Two Key Reform Bills

5 min read

POLICY REFORMS CAN be a drawn-out and laborious process, but once in a blue moon you get a sudden windfall – and this makes it all worth the wait. In th...

Innovating Up To Speed – Measuring Penang’s Innovative Capabilities

28 min read

RECENTLY, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak announced the plan for the development of Greater Penang, which would comprise the state of Penang and exten...

Is The CPI Vulnerable to Mood Swings?

3 min read

IntroductionThe consumer price index or CPI measures price movements from one year to the next, giving us an indication of inflation. A variety of consumpti...

Penetrating The New Frontier of Medical Devices

5 min read

PENETRATING THE medical devices industry sits high on the wish list of many local manufacturing entities. However, the stringent quality standards associated...

Marking George Town

2 min read

Labourers tasked with road repair in Transfer Road, back in the day. (Picture extracted from Penang Postcard Collection 1899–1930s by Khoo Salma Nasutio...

Muslim Mercantile Activities in George Town Before The Second World War

9 min read

BUSINESS AND TRADING ACTIVITIES were not foreign to the Malays at the time when Francis Light occupied Penang on August 11, 1786; various bazaars were opened by...

Freedom of Political Speech and Social Responsibility in Malaysia

3 min read

THE CORE IDEA OF freedom of speech is the freedom to express and communicate ideas and thoughts without fear of the consequences. In political contexts, such...

Reading The Numbers: The Bank Negara Report 2010

9 min read

THE BANK NEGARA REPORT on the economic performance of the nation in 2010 was released in March 2011. To date, SERI is the only Malaysian institution that analys...

Sao Lim Comes to Penang

5 min read

Sek Koh Sum.MANY PENANGITES GREW UP WITH some connection to some martial art. But few realise that there are more than 50 Chinese martial arts schools to...

Reversing The Brain Drain Requires A Paradigm Shift

5 min read

WHEN THE WORLD BANK LAUNCHED its Malaysian Economic Monitor’s “Brain Drain” issue, I received a hurried call from a friend. His contact, the c...