Up close with Lat
6 min read
"We shouldn’t use the word 'kampung' as a term that reflects backwardness – we are proud kampung people! We were born in the kampung, but we can str...
A chat with Tan Twan Eng
7 min read
It was in early December last year when we met the award-winning writer of The Gift of Rain and The Garden of Evening Mists, Tan Twan Eng, who...
Resurrecting Sungai Pinang
4 min read
Penangites are a lucky lot. They have hills, beaches and rivers within a short travelling distance from residential areas. And the early settlers of the island...
People before profit
4 min read
Is it possible to turn a profit while running a business focused on people? To marry profit and passion? Can you truly have it all? Sasibai Kimis thinks it is p...
A festival for all the senses
3 min read
Chef and cookbook author Pearly Kee hosting a tour of Pulau Tikus market.Penang’s In-Between Art Festival – so called because it literally tak...
Between light and darkness
7 min read
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (feature film, 2010).Throughout the interview, Apichatpong Weerasethakul is soft-spoken and down to earth; I a...
Malaysia’s energy generat ion and usage
5 min read
Malaysia’s national grid operates as such: customers are connected with power from hydroelectric and thermal plants through a network system made up of tr...
Tokyo trippin’
5 min read
Standing on a curb on an overcast day in Tokyo, I was surprised at how excited I was while waiting for the lights to change at the (in)famous Shibuya scramble c...
The gay side of Singapore
4 min read
“If you are interested, I will bring you around,” my gay Singaporean friend told me. It sounded like an open invitation for something naughty. I gra...
Bandung’s Creative City image grows stronger
5 min read
I still remember vividly arriving in Bandung in the early 2000s, when I was just starting university. It was night time when I passed by Dago Street, which wa...
Supping in the homes of strangers
4 min read
The idea was immediately appealing to budding restaurateurs in Malaysia, and thus, Plate Culture was launched in June last year. What's not to like about it? It...
A Malaysia lost
6 min read
I want to talk about the issue of belonging. It may seem like an old hat but it’s a perennial issue and a very important one. To many of us, it is a sore...