Ong Wei Chong is a Senior Associate Fellow and Head of the National Security Studies Programme (NSSP), in the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is also adjunct faculty in the Military Studies Programme at the school’s constituent unit, the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS). He has taught at the command and staff college, advanced school and officer cadet school levels at SAFTI Military Institute, Singapore. He was also coordinator of the Asia Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers (APPSMO). In national service, Weichong is a Functional Specialist Support Staff Officer (Army) with the Singapore Armed Forces. In addition, he was an Affiliated Researcher with the Department of Leadership and Management, Swedish National Defence College and a Guest Professor at the Ecole Navale, France.

Weichong completed his doctoral studies with the Centre for the Study of War, State and Society, University of Exeter, UK in 2010 where he was a recipient of research grants from the University of Exeter and the Royal Historical Society. His other grants include a 3-year (2017-2020) Ministry of Education Academic Research Grant (AcRF) Tier 1 grant for a research project on Cold War Insurgency. He is also an alumnus of the Phillip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies Basin Harbor Workshop, SAIS, Johns Hopkins (2013).

Weichong’s articles, commentaries and op-eds have been published in the journal and magazine of the Singapore Armed Forces (Pointer and Pioneer); RUSI Journal; Armed Forces and Society; Small Wars & Insurgencies, Defence Studies; The Pacific Review; Asia Policy; The National Interest; The Diplomat: Australian Defence Force Journal; Journal of Southeast Asian Studies; Straits Times; Today; Lianhe Zaobao; Defense News; Canadian Naval Review; and Diplomatie.

• Military History
• Strategic Studies
• War Studies
• Insurgency/Counterinsurgency
• Hybrid Warfare & Grey Zone Conflict

• Affiliated Researcher, Department of Leadership and Management, Swedish National Defence College, 2010-2012
• Guest Professor, Ecole Navale, France, 2013-2014

Books

• Voice of Malayan Revolution: The CPM Radio War against Singapore and Malaysia, 1969-1981

  30 June, 2009

Working Papers

• WP136 | War As They Knew It: Revolutionary War and Counterinsurgency in Southeast Asia

  29 August, 2007

• WP116 | ‘Voice of the Malayan Revolution’: The Communist Party of Malaya’s Struggle for Hearts and Minds in the ‘Second Malayan Emergency’(1969-1975)

  13 October, 2006

RSIS Commentaries

• National Resilience in Ukraine's War: Insights for Singapore

  09 September, 2024

• Understanding the Foundation of Singapore’s National Resilience

  13 March, 2024

• National Service at 55: Anchoring Singapore’s Core Principles

  08 July, 2022

• ‘First TikTok War’: Ukraine’s Lessons for Singapore

  29 March, 2022

• History in Digital Age: Why Military Professionals Need It

  25 May, 2021

• Singapore’s Military History: Look Beyond World War II

  13 February, 2019

• CO15260 | Singapore Story 2.0: Strengthening the Core

  30 November, 2015

• CO14072 | Singaporean Heroes in Uniform: They are amongst us

  17 April, 2014

• CO14031 | Securing Peace and Security for Singapore: Turning Constraints into Opportunities

  14 February, 2014

• CO13223 | The Evolution of National Service in the Singapore Story

  05 December, 2013

• CO13191 | The Second Emergency (1968-1989): A Reassessment of CPM's Armed Revolution

  10 October, 2013

• CO13181 | The Demise of Chin Peng: End of the Classical Counterinsurgency Era?

  02 October, 2013

• CO12025 | Fall of Singapore 70 Years On: Continuity and Change in Security Environment

  13 February, 2012

• CO11060 | The Need for Engagement in Singapore’s Defence Policies

  21 April, 2011

• CO11035 | Humanitarian Intervention From Above:‘No-fly Zone’ Over Libya?

  04 March, 2011

• CO11025 | Singapore’s Total Defence: Shaping The Pillars

  21 February, 2011

• CO10172 | The ‘Wikileaks Effect’: Information Warfare and ‘Battle for the Truth’

  16 December, 2010

• CO10118 | Alternative Narratives: Why I Wrote It

  17 September, 2010

• CO10113 | Alternative Narratives: The Danger of Romanticising the Other

  14 September, 2010

• CO10103 | The Youth Olympic Games: Finessing the SAF’s ‘Whole of Nation’ Expertise

  31 August, 2010

• CO10087 | Singapore's Citizen Army: Bridging the Civil-Military Praxis

  03 August, 2010

• CO10057 | Sinking of the Cheonan: Rethinking Littoral Warfare

  31 May, 2010

• CO10044 | The Singapore Story: More Than a State-imposed Narrative

  29 April, 2010

• CO10022 | Singapore’s New Ground for Overseas Military Training: The Case for Timor-Leste

  22 February, 2010

• CO10006 | Singapore’s Defence Spending: A Long-term Approach

  13 January, 2010

• CO09125 | Relevance of the Singapore Armed Forces: A Journey into Singaporeaness

  14 December, 2009

• CO09108 | Future Soldier Systems: Promise or Hubris of the Network-centric Infantryman

  05 November, 2009

• CO09091 | The Inter-National Serviceman of the SAF: Citizen Soldiers in Overseas Missions

  12 October, 2009

• CO09067 | Reflections on the 40th SAF Day and Beyond

  13 July, 2009

• CO09050 | Military Defeat of the Tamil Tigers: From Velvet Glove to Iron Fist

  27 May, 2009

• CO09013 | Israel's Propaganda War in Gaza: Losing the Moral High Ground

  04 February, 2009

• CO09005 | More than Warfighters: Role of ‘Strategic Corporals’ in the SAF

  12 January, 2009

• CO08125 | In Defence of Singapore’s Military History

  28 November, 2008

• CO08095 | Caucasus: Winning the Shooting War, Losing the Media Battle

  05 September, 2008

• CO08063 | Dealing with Bombs in Rural Exeter: Global Threat, Local Response

  10 June, 2008

• CO08057 | Steel Sharks: China’s Growing Submarine Fleet

  05 May, 2008

Authored Books

• Malaysia’s Defeat of Armed Communism: The Second Emergency, 1968-1989. London: Routledge, 2014

Journal Articles

• “Between safe havens in cross-border insurgency: Malaysia, Thailand and the Second Emergency (1952–89)” in Between safe havens in cross-border insurgency: Malaysia, Thailand and the Second Emergency (1952–89), 2019
• “PLA Reform, a New Normative Contest, and the Challenge for ASEAN” (with Angela Poh Ming Yan) in Asia Policy, Vol. 14, No. 4, 2019
• “The rise of hybrid actors in the Asia-Pacific” in The Pacific Review, Vol. 31, No. 6, 2018, pp. 740-761
• “Book Review of ‘Defect or Defend: Military Responses to Popular Protests in Authoritarian Asia’” in Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 48, No. 2, 2017, pp. 308-310
• Ong, Wei Chong; Alan Chong. “Waging Small Wars in the New Millennium: Chameleonic Missions and Virtual Aggression—An Introduction”, Armed Forces & Society, 40(1), January 2014.
• Ong, Wei Chong. “Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Drawing Lessons from the Wars of Others in Post-Mao China and Post-Colonial Singapore”, RUSI Journal, 158(4), August 2013.
• “Operations Other Than War in a Coalition Environment: Opportunities and Challenges for Modern Armed Forces” (with Manaswini Ramkumar) in Pointer, Vol. 38, No. 3, 2012
• Ong, Wei Chong. “A View from Singapore – More than Warfighters: the Role of Strategic Corporals”, Australian Defence Force Journal, 107, 2012.
• Ong, Wei Chong. “Peripheral to Norm? The Expeditionary Role of the Third Generation Singapore Armed Forces”, Defence Studies, 11(3), September 2011.
• Ong, Wei Chong; Bernard Loo. “Fighting Small Wars in the New Century: Questions and Insights for the SAF”, Pointer, 37(2), 2011.
• Ong, Wei Chong. “Tempering the Elemental Force of People’s War”, Pointer, 36(1), 2010.
• Ong, Wei Chong. “Book Review of Malaya's Secret Police 1945-60: The Role of the Special Branch in the Malayan Emergency”, RUSI Journal, 153(5), October, 2008.
• Ong, Wei Chong. “Book Review of The Asian Military Revolution: From Gunpowder to the Bomb”, RUSI Journal, 154(3), June 2009.
• Ong, Wei Chong. “Blitzkrieg: Revolution or Evolution?”, RUSI Journal, 152(6), December 2007.

Edited Books / Special Issues

• Communist Party of Malaya: A Comprehensive Bibliography. Singapore: National Library Board, 2021

Chapters in Edited Books

• “Singapore’s Military History 2.0” in Bernard F W Loo (Ed.), Strategy and Defense Policy for Small States - Problems and Prospects. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company, 2021, pp. 41-55
• “Singapore’s Military History 2.0” in Bernard F W Loo (Ed.), Strategy and Defense Policy for Small States - Problems and Prospects. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company, 2021, pp. 41-55
• “Singapore’s New Military History: A Military History from a Non-War Fighting Past” in Tristan Moss and Tom Richardson (Eds.), Beyond Combat: Australian Military Activity Away From the Battlefields. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2018, n/a
• “Strategic Insights from APPSMO: Review of Ministerial Keynote Addresses (1999–2015)” in Ong Keng Yong, Mushahid Ali and Bernard Chin (Eds.), The APPSMO Advantage: Strategic Opportunities: Evolving Defence Diplomacy with the Asia Pacific Programme for Senior Military Officers. Singapore: World Scientific, 2016, pp. xxvii-xxxvi
• “International Missions of the Singapore Armed Forces: How Far Would You Go?” (with Katie Tan) in Barry Desker and Ang Cheng Guan (Eds.), Perspectives on the Security of Singapore: The First 50 Years. Singapore: World Scientific, 2015, pp. 153-172
• Ong, Wei Chong; Yee Kuang Heng. “The Quest for Relevance in Times of Peace: Operations Other Than War and the Third Generation Singapore Armed Forces” in Chiyuki AOI & Yee Kuang Heng (eds.), Asia-Pacific Nations in International Peace Support and Stability Operations. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
• Ong, Wei Chong. “From Reticence to Norm? The Evolving Expeditionary Mindset and Role of the Singapore Armed Forces” in Gerhard Kummel & Henrik Furst (eds.), Core Values and the Expeditionary Mindset: Armed Forces in Metamorphosis. Baden-Baden: NOMOS Verlag, 2011.

Op-Eds

• “Mobilisation woes in Ukraine war offer lessons for Singapore’s national service”, The Straits Times, 21 September 2023
• “Commentary: Wide-scale water rationing a thing of the past? Not if Singaporeans slide towards unsustainable overconsumption”, TODAY, 29 March 2023
• “Commentary: What Singapore can learn from Russia’s problems in drafting reservist troops”, TODAY, 7 November 2022
• “Here’s how S’pore can ‘get real’ and be psychologically prepared for possible conflict in region”, TODAY, 1 September 2022

• S6014 The Evolution of Strategic Thought