May 2015 - Penang Monthly

So much of Ismail Hashim to unpack or repack

6 min read

Some visitors were a wee bit befuddled, flummoxed and bewildered.They had trooped to photographer extraordinaire Ismail Hashim’s Unpack-Repack exhibitio...

The punk artists of Mount Kinabalu

6 min read

About 100km away from Kota Kinabalu, I find myself standing inside a sunscorched country house, looking at a line of A3-sized posters hanging on the walls.About...

Gerakbudaya – A book-based cultural movement

4 min read

“That’s my boss,” Chong Ton Sin said when he caught me glancing at the Che Guevara poster on the wall of his office. Actually, there were two...

Carolyn Hong

Probing root problems with music, the Kareem Salama way

5 min read

Kareem Salama had what he called a “very traditional American upbringing” in Oklahoma. His Egyptian parents, both engineers, migrated to the US in t...

Let’s become pedestrians again

4 min read

There has been a tremendous increase in the use of motor vehicles, especially private cars, on the roads on Penang Island in the last few years. This rapid incr...

A hill climb for beginners... and others

5 min read

The first challenge of the trail was finding it. For those in the know, Penang’s Youth Park is accessible from Jalan Utama, just before the junction to Ja...

Louise Goss-Custard

Letting colonial literature reveal its wealth – and ambivalence

6 min read

Dr Mohamad Rashidi Mohd Pakri is from Baling, but has been living in Penang for the better part of the past 20 years. This is thanks to Universiti Sains Malaysi...

Labour force and wage comparisons by numbers

6 min read

The labour force refers to those who, during the survey, are between the ages of 15 and 64 (in completed years at last birthday) and are either employed or unem...

Penang able to handle the heat

7 min read

It is widely known that Penang aspires to become a regional education hub. In addition to Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Mara, the state is...

Matthew Tan Kiak Hin

Crisis ahead for private higher education – and solutions

13 min read

Graduating students of the Penang Medical College (PMC). Private university enrolment is expected to grow at 5.6% per annum and overtake the public sector in...

Geoffrey Williams

Rising global inequality signals coming catastrophe

8 min read

The issue of inequality that was shunted aside amid rapid growth over the last few decades has resurfaced with a vengeance, particularly after the latest global...

Lim Mah Hui

Federalism arrested

7 min read

On September 16, 1963 a covenant was forged between the peoples of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore, resulting in the creation of a new sovereign nation cal...

Zairil Khir Johari