Historical Antecedents for Penang’s Political Economy – Guest Lecture of Bernard Keo
Date: 16 March 2026, 13:40-15:00
Location: Corvinus University of Budapest, building C, C 510
Language of the event: English
Penang—often referred to as the “Silicon Valley of the East”—plays a central role in Malaysia’s position as the world’s 6th largest semiconductor exporter (2023). Today, the island hosts a dense concentration of multinational corporations engaged in assembly, testing, packaging, and increasingly advanced semiconductor manufacturing.
In this lecture, Bernard Keo presents a longue durée perspective on Penang’s political economy, tracing how the island’s contemporary success builds on historical connections across multiple imperial systems during the British colonial period. The talk highlights the role of the Peranakan Chinese community—a creolised Overseas Chinese community formed through intermarriage between Chinese traders and local women—whose commercial and social networks extended across the British, Dutch, and Japanese Empires. These networks helped shape Penang as a crucial node in the global economy, both historically and today.
About the Speaker
Bernard Keo is an Assistant Professor in International History and Politics from Geneva Graduate Institute, whose work focuses on political economy, global networks, and the historical foundations of economic development in Southeast Asia.