Ong Chit Chung (; 28 January 1949 – 14 July 2008) was a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

an politician who served as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency () is a defunct five-member Group Representation Constituency located in the western area of Singapore. It consists of largely Bukit Timah areas, and including parts of Jurong, Clementi and Bukit B ...

(GRC) from May 1997 to October 2001 and Jurong GRC from March 2002 till his death in July 2008. He was also a military historian at the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

Career

Entering politics in 1988, Ong served the

Bukit Batok Bukit Batok, often abbreviated as Bt Batok, is a planning area and matured residential town located along the eastern boundary of the West Region of Singapore. Bukit Batok statistically ranks in as the 25th largest, the 12th most populous and ...

Constituency for two terms, before the constituency became part of the

in 1996, and the constituency becoming a part of the Jurong Group Representation Constituency in 2001. In 1991, Ong was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for

Ministry of Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

and

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

. During his twenty years in politics, Ong also served as the Chairman for the Government Parliamentary Committees for Education, Defence and Foreign Affairs. Ong was also as a historian with several publications about

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Ong's seat in Bukit Timah GRC was left vacant after his death, with the remaining MPs of Jurong GRC taking care of his ward.

Death

Ong died from heart cancer at home on 14 July 2008, leaving behind a wife and two sons.

Legacy

On 2 August 2008, Ong's alma mater,

Victoria School Victoria School (VS) is a government autonomous boys' secondary school in Siglap, Singapore. Established in 1876, it is Singapore's second oldest state secondary school. It offers a six-year Integrated Programme, which allows students to skip t ...

, named a student leadership award after Ong. Called the Dr. Ong Chit Chung Leadership Award, it is awarded to high-performing students in the school. Ong's old Chief Librarian badge that was used when he was still in Victoria School, was presented by Ong's widow to the principal Low Eng Teong, and was later added to the collection in the school's heritage centre. The Ong Chit Chung Memorial Scholarship in the Department of History at the National University of Singapore is also named after him.

Career

Death

Legacy

References

Further reading