About the Book Launch

This book brings together a collection of curated transcripts from the Voice of Malayan Democracy (VMD) radio station, the successor to the Voice of Malayan Revolution (VMR) which ceased broadcasting in 1981. Following the closure of the VMR station in Hunan, China, the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) established the VMD using a mobile transmitter operating from its jungle stronghold in Southern Thailand. The signing of the Haadyai Peace Accords in 1989 marked the end of the CPM’s armed struggle, as well as the closure of the VMD and its broadcasts.

Featuring a foreword by Professor Wang Gungwu, this edited volume offers a deeper understanding of how the CPM perceived its armed struggle amid the shifting dynamics of the Cold War. Through the VMD broadcasts, the book sheds light on a largely untold story – exploring why and how the CPM persisted in its revolutionary path until the very end.

The publication also includes supplementary materials, with the complete collection of VMD manuscripts made available in an accompanying e-book, accessible via a QR code.

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.