Ooi Kee Beng

Ooi Kee Beng is a political historian, writer, and executive director of Penang Institute. He is the founder-editor of the Penang Monthly as well as other publications of the Penang Institute, and a columnist for The Edge Malaysia. After being conferred with the honour of Officer of the Order of the Defender of State, his name is usually prefixed with Dato.

Early life and education Ooi Kee Beng was born and raised in Penang.

He first attended La Salle School (Air Itam), and did his A-levels at Methodist High School.

he was senior fellow at Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia at Sunway University in Subang, Selangor, and adjunct professor at Taylor's College, Selangor.

His academic interests include language philosophy and Ancient Chinese political and strategic thinking.

Writing Ooi is the founder-editor of the Penang Monthly, ISSUES (Penang Institute) and Monographs (Penang Institute); and ISEAS Perspective (ISEAS). He is also editor of Trends in Southeast Asia.

Honours

In 2017 Ooi was conferred a Darjah Setia Pangkuan Negeri (DSPN), which carries the title Dato', by the Governor of Penang, Abdul Rahman Abbas.

Penang Institute

The Penang Institute was established in 1997 as the Socio-economic and Environmental Research Institute (SERI), funded by the Government of Penang. It was rebranded as Penang Institute in 2011, "to secure Penang's reputation as an intellectual hub and as the culture capital of the country, and to enhance Penang's reputation in ASEAN and beyond".

Its main objectives are:

Selected publications As Empires Fell: The Life and Times of Lee Hau-Shik (2020) Month by Month (2019) Catharsis: A Second Chance for Democracy in Malaysia (2018) Yusof Ishak: A Man of Many Firsts (2017) The Eurasian Core & Its Edges: Dialogues with Wang Gungwu on the History of the World (2015) Merdeka for the Mind. Essays on Malaysian Struggles in the 21st Century (2015) (Editor) The Third ASEAN Reader (2015) (editor) Done Making Do: 1Party Rule Ends in Malaysia (Genta Media & ISEAS 2013) The Right to Differ: A Biographical Sketch of Lim Kit Siang (2011) In Lieu of Ideology: An Intellectual Biography of Goh Keng Swee (2010) Malaya's First Year at the United Nations (2009) (Co-edited with Tawfik Ismail) March 8: Eclipsing May 13 (2008) (Co-authored with Johan Saravanamuttu & Lee Hock Guan) The Reluctant Politician: Tun Dr Ismail and His Time (2007) Continent, Coast, Ocean: Dynamics of Regionalism in Eastern Asia (2007) (Co-editor) Sunzi's krigskonst (Sunzi's Art of War) 1995 Wuzi's krigskonst (Wuzi's Art of War) 1996 Weliaozi's krigskonst (Weiliaozi's Art of War) 1997