About the Book Launch

The Voice of Malayan Democracy (VMD) was a clandestine radio station of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM); it broadcasted from 1981 to 1990. The VMD broadcasts provide a glimpse into the CPM’s world view in the latter part of the so-called Second Emergency (1968–89) and the Cold War. Why did the CPM continue its armed struggle despite dwindling international and local support? This book presents a fuller picture of how the CPM perceived its armed struggle amidst the changing dynamics of the Cold War via the VMD — it tells a hitherto untold story of why and how the CPM persisted on its revolutionary path right to the very end.

The VMD was the successor to the Voice of Malayan Revolution (VMR) which ceased its broadcasts in 1981. After the closure of the VMR station in Hunan, China, the CPM set up a new radio station based on a mobile transmitter in the CPM’s jungle stronghold in Southern Thailand. The signing of the Haadyai Peace Accords in 1989 marked the end of the CPM’s armed revolution and the closure of the VMD broadcasts.

About the Author

Ong Weichong is a Senior Associate Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He has taught at the command and staff college, advanced school and officer cadet school levels at SAFTI Military Institute, Singapore. 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 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; Pointer; Straits Times; Channel NewsAsia; Today; Lianhe Zaobao; Defense News; Canadian Naval Review; and Diplomatie.