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.

835 posts

What’s in the budget for state governments?

5 min read

Prime minister Najib Abdul Razak tabled the 2012 Budget amidst great fanfare, announcing a slew of benefits for almost every possible layer of society. One comm...

Freedoms we take for granted

9 min read

I came to penang to give a paper at Universiti Sains Malaysia’s International Humanities Conference and to see my friends’ first grandchild. My bubb...

How did we tolerate the ISA for so long?

6 min read

Is the Internal Security Act (ISA) really going to leave us? In name as well as in spirit? Will its body be laid to rest forever and its soul consigned, not to...

Road to Nowhere

2 min read

I avoid leaving the house on weekends and going to town (which I loosely use to describe Pulau Tikus and George Town) simply because traffic congestion is a blo...

MCAT: Much room for improvement

3 min read

For those who missed the colourful brochures, advertisement banners and opening of the 1Malaysia Contemporary Art Tourism (MCAT) Festival 2011, it was an a...

The green house –alternative living starts now

4 min read

Hidden away from the many sprouting housing developments and townships in Balik Pulau is an ongoing experiment in sustainable living. This is a project brought...

Yachting Awaits Development in Penang

9 min read

When you gaze out over the sea around Penang, there is emptiness, the absence of boats of various shapes and sizes, save for the ubiquitous ferries, the occasio...

The Sour Fate of Kampung Pokok Asam Jawa

8 min read

The distant sound of a large lorry gets louder behind me. As it passes, kicking dust and debris over my shoes, I look at the place. This can’t be it, I th...

Alive But Not Well, The State of Penang's SMEs

15 min read

Plenty has been written about Malaysia being locked inside the so called middle income trap. The view is that the country is too expensive to effectively compet...

Some Ways of Increasing Quit Rent Revenue

3 min read

I wish to convey my opinion on how the Penang state government can improve its tax revenue collection for the sake of welfare and development projects. One of t...

The Tiger That Lost Its Roar – A Tale of Malaysia’s Political Economy

8 min read

THIS BOOK BY Tony Pua, an Oxford-trained economist who currently is a Member of Parliament from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), is a collection of articles t...

Managing Malaysia’s First EMC Lab

6 min read

The CISSPR team at the PSDC. From left : lab manager Chee Lay Hen, test engineer Cheng See See and tests specialists Wan Khairul Hazli bin Wan Mustapha, A...