Nirmala’s last wish
7 min read
Above: A 1986 work from Nirmala’s Damai series on the pity of war, The Pity War Distilled. Ink drawing of a bag lady in Brussels in 1995.With vision...
Baba Nyonya culture in Penang and Phuket
8 min read
Thalang Road, the main street in Phuket.When I First walked down Thalang Road in Tongkah, the old town of Phuket, several years ago, I was reminded of the...
Getting good bacteria to green Penang
6 min read
Phase 1: Demonstrations at Mayang Pasir (top) and Bayan Baru Market (below).High speed economic activity and demographic shifts, especially in developing...
Democratising women
6 min read
Part of the excitement associated with the March 8, 2008 election results when Pakatan Rakyat (PR) took over four (now three) state governments was that it sign...
We are the led-ing light
5 min read
Penang has built its reputation as the Silicon Island of the East through its almost 40 years of experience in the export-oriented electronics industry. Today&r...
Finding Penang’s niche
2 min read
From left to right:Professor Dr p. Ramasamy, Penang Deputy Chief Minister ii; Lim Guan Eng, Penang Chief Minister; Liew Chin Tong, seri executive director and...
By George Town! A festival to inherit
4 min read
About four months ago, the Penang state government put out a call for people to submit their ideas for the year’s 2010 Unesco celebrations, conceived to b...
Cleaner, greener Penang
2 min read
Will Penangites finally learn to use the mysterious orange object?“It’s not easy being green,” sang Kermit the Frog, it hasn’t bee...
A personal Penang treasure that can be revived
7 min read
The hamlet of Sungai Bakap used to be on the North- South trunk road, and when it was, it steadily flourished, together with its neighbours Simpang Ampat and...
Between faith and hope
7 min read
Forlorn letterboxes in a Rifle Range block.When Khoo Cheng See started the House of Hope five years ago, she had no idea what she was getting herself into...
The man who industrialised Penang
6 min read
Any penangite born less than 40 years ago will not have known a Penang that was not a hub for the world’s electronics industry. Before the 1970s, the stat...
Good hearing and a light touch
11 min read
From the successful development of Korea’s steel and shipping industries to Israel’s software cluster, and from the US’s semiconductor giants...