November 2015 - Penang Monthly

The strange rise and sudden fall of the Chinese stock market

6 min read

At the end of 2014, China had a very normal stock market1. Measured by the size of the stock market, China’s market capitalisation of US$4tril, close to 4...

Herbert Poenisch

Festivals of significance: A writer’s view of literary festivals

11 min read

We hardly heard any mention of them 20 years ago, but today it seems that every country, every town, every little village has one: yes, a Starbucks. But I&rsquo...

Tan Twan Eng

In Malaysia, every year is a year of festivals

4 min read

Timing is everything, and for local writer Keith Hockton to have released his book, Festivals of Malaysia, this year, well, one might have thought he had inside...

Louise Goss-Custard

The path not taken

9 min read

The movies all end the same way.The athlete whose journey we’d been following raises her hands in triumph at the finish line, the audience rises in a st...

Andrea Filmer

Can Budget 2016 strengthen Malaysia against external economic headwinds?

5 min read

In the past year or so, the Malaysian economy has been affected by two main external headwinds: the fall in commodities prices dented the country’s financ...

Lim Kim-Hwa

Worshipping women: Confident, conscious and complex

7 min read

A self portrait.Yuen Chee Ling held steadfast to the ideal of Woman – what it takes to be a Woman, the fount of infinite love, her innate beauty and...

A trail charming and delightful

5 min read

You can see its distinctive peak with its radio towers from miles away, jutting up from the lowlands. Easily visible even from the island, Bukit Mertajam is 545...

Louise Goss-Custard

Space for Penang’s local artists

4 min read

Fact is, Penang is no longer just about its colonial history and street food. Since its listing as a Unesco World Heritage Site seven years ago, its art scene...

Chang Jia Ying

No fetish for heritage here, and yet…

4 min read

I was looking out of a window in the longhouse when a local resident asked if I could spot the ancient stone mound, called a perupun in the local language, whic...

Carolyn Hong

A city of cafes

7 min read

A lot has changed in George Town in a few short years. Food of all sorts can now be found around the clock. Cafes of all sorts and sizes have popped up, turning...

Andrea Filmer

The ringgit and sen of festivals

11 min read

Malaysia enjoys a plethora of annual religious and ethnic festivities, thanks to its multicultural population. From Hari Raya Aidilfitri to Chinese New Year and...

Sarah George

Festivals in numbers

5 min read

2015 is the Year of Festivals for Malaysia. The tagline, “Endless Celebrations”, showcases Malaysia as a tourist destination with bountiful and dive...