COMMENT Penang is the hotbed of Malaysia's non-governmental organisation (NGO) movement. Perhaps it is the water there or the people, who throughout history have been "contrarian".

In Penang, if one has an idea and shares it, chances are, it will be shot down by family members and then the wider community; after this baptism of fire, these ideas become more robust.

Penang is also a bell-weather state where foreign direct investment-based industrialisation first took root in Malaysia. Perhaps because of its open, multi-ethnic and multi-religious society; there is a sense of the "grating-edge" about the state.