Ong Keng Yong

Ong Keng Yong is the Executive Deputy Chairman of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where he also leads the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies and the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research. A career diplomat, he currently serves as Singapore’s Ambassador-at-Large and Non-Resident Ambassador to Iran.

Ong was Secretary-General of ASEAN from 2003 to 2007, a period that saw the bloc deepen institutional capacity and bureaucratic coordination in the face of regional uncertainty. He has been a steady advocate for “considered diplomacy” and regional cohesion, even as ASEAN continues to grapple with the challenge of enforcing consensus. His public interventions reflect a realist belief in ASEAN as a platform for safeguarding small states through collective resolve especially as great-power rivalries return to Southeast Asia.

Earlier in his diplomatic career, Ong Keng Yong served as High Commissioner to Malaysia (2011–2014), High Commissioner to India and Ambassador to Nepal (1996–1998), and held postings in Saudi Arabia, the United States, and Malaysia. From 1998 to 2002, he was Press Secretary to Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and held concurrent roles in the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts and the People’s Association. He later directed the Institute of Policy Studies and chaired the Singapore International Foundation.

Ong speaks with authority on regional diplomacy, ASEAN’s evolving institutional role, and the strategic dilemmas facing small states in an era of geopolitical flux. He provides a clear-eyed view of how Southeast Asia navigates power competition between the US and China, and what ASEAN must do to remain cohesive and credible in the face of internal crises like Myanmar.

Trained in law at the University of Singapore, Ong Keng Yong holds a master’s degree in Arab Studies from Georgetown University. Beyond official appointments, he chairs Humanity Matters, a humanitarian organisation dedicated to interfaith understanding and civic participation.