Editorial - Penang Monthly

Climate Change: A Timeless Concern

3 min read

CLIMATE CHANGE. The phrase rings with an alliterative charm, yet it evokes a notion that is far from simple. It invites us to consider our relationship with the elements and...

After 15 Rousing Years, the Penang Renaissance Still Resonates Clearly

8 min read

We are at one of those self-appraising points in time when we—not only Penang Monthly, but also Penang Institute as a whole—stare hard into the rearview mirror in order to orientate our journey forward.

The Art of Getting Creative and Staying Creative

3 min read

I HAVE AN iPhone 15 Plus Max. It is equipped with the best phone camera in the world and I…

Diagnosing Countries: Education in Malaysia Shows Signs of Arrhythmia

4 min read

WE LIVE IN the Era of Nation-States. At the moment, there are 193 members in the United Nations (UN). Inevitably,…

Curating the City: Public Spaces and the Framing of Urban Architecture

4 min read

THE KEY DIFFERENCE that I observe when visiting a thriving city and a striving one is in the manifest gap in ambition and maintenance between private places and...

Penang Institute as NGO: Growing Beyond Research and Advocacy

3 min read

THE THEME FOR June 2024 is non-government organisations—NGOs. This allows for the publisher of this monthly, i.e. Penang Institute itself, to do some soul-searc...

The Creative Industries Require More Organic Solidarity and Less Mechanical Solidarity

3 min read

IF YOU WISH to enhance material production, be this of electronic chips, fish and chips, or arts and crafts, the contemporary wisdom today is to aim for the est...

Weathering Climate Change—A Battle Fatal to Lose

3 min read

I REMEMBER STRUGGLING with the terms “weather” and “climate” in primary school.And as with most related words, it was about knowing when to use one and not the...

Pursuing the Meaning of Equality and Liberty (With Some AI Assistance)

4 min read

WHETHER WE LIKE to think so or not, modern political thought gained effective sloganic expression during the French Revolution (in 1789), incidentally around th...

Taking Physical Space or Making Cultural Space? Multicultural Peace Depends on Which We Prefer

4 min read

SPACE: The final frontier… Good slogan. Classic. Melodramatic, evocative. And totally anthropocentric; to be sure, Space is after all 100% of the Universe, minu...

Penang Institute Pushes for Economic Ecosystems Development

4 min read

SINCE THE THEME for January 2024 is Penang’s Economic Development, it seems appropriate that I present in somewhat truncated form the document produced in March...

Fight for Your Man Caves and Your Comfort Foods

3 min read

YOU HAVE YOUR favourite places to be in. Favourite rooms within whose walls you feel safe, where you feel at home. There, you relax. The knot in your stomach lo...