Culture
The Second Life of Penang Street Food
As heritage tourism transforms Georgetown's hawker culture, the vendors who built it are asking whether the attention is helping them, or slowly replacing them.
Browse recent culture stories from The Times of Malaya.
Culture
The Cafe That Became the Office
It is eleven in the morning on a Tuesday and every table has a laptop on it. This is not unusual. It has not been unusual for a while.
Culture
The Rider Who Knows Your Building Better Than You Do
He knows which lift is faster. He knows the access code nobody uses. He has been here more often than some of the people who live here.
Culture
The Stranger Working From the Table Next to Yours
He came for the cost, mostly. What his income does here is categorically different from what it does at home.
Culture
The Coffee Shop That Was There Before You Were Born
The tiles on the floor are original, which means they're older than most of the people eating here.
Culture
KL's Night Markets Are Not Dying. They Are Changing.
The pasar malam was never supposed to be permanent. That's precisely why it has survived everything thrown at it.
Culture
The Two Types of People in Every Group Chat
The ones who send voice notes and the ones who respond to voice notes with text. There is no neutral ground.
Culture
The Faces on the Wall
Every hospital waiting room has them. Every school staffroom. The framed portraits of people a society has decided to remember.
Culture
You Studied It for Eleven Years. It's Still Not the Language Your Life Happens In.
Bahasa Malaysia is known. It's just not always the language the day happens in.
Culture
Why Our Weddings Keep Getting Bigger When We Can Afford Them Less
The guest list is three hundred people. The couple has been engaged for two years, saving every month. They still had to take a loan.
Culture
The Pasar Malam That Raised Me
Every Thursday evening, the same stretch of road became something else entirely.
Culture
Why the Mamak Never Closes (And What That Says About Us)
At 2am, the mamak is still full, and nobody there is asking what you do for work.