Ong Kian Ming

Ong has an elder brother and a younger sister. He grew up in Petaling Jaya. His father was an architect. He married Yeoh Ee Leng in 2004. The couple do not have any children. He is known for his passion for running, and features regularly in local running events.[6][7] He believes that academic credentials is not necessarily needed to ensure one's success rather, what is more important is a person's integrity.[8]

Ong, a Fulbright scholar, is a PhD holder in political science from Duke University, USA. He also has a master's degree in economics from Cambridge University and a degree in economics from London School of Economics. Prior to that he was an ASEAN scholar who completed his "O" and "A" levels in Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College in Singapore respectively.

During his tenure as Deputy Minister of MITI, he is known for his ability to articulate without having any speech text. He is also known for his informal approach during the events which he attends. His approachability as well as intellect, backed by his credentials drew support from a number of groups in which he interacted with, particularly among academicians and intellectuals.

In an interview session by The Malaysian Insight, Ong admitted that he never intended to get involved in politics. He also believes he is very fortunate to be in MITI, as it is one of the key ministries which is widely acknowledge for being very proactive, business friendly and outward looking. He further acknowledged the contribution and influence of former Minister of MITI, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz in cultivating a culture of responsiveness and accountability in the ministry.[9]

In April 2019, he criticized a senior UBS official who made misleading comments about Malaysia's economy.[10] He argued that he would normally accept any criticisms thrown to the government, provided that they are factually correct. He pointed out how the UBS official, Kelvin Tay, from UBS Wealth Management misinterpreted certain economic figures, particularly on the difference between current account deficit and fiscal deficit, as well as Tay's statement on Malaysia's over-reliance on the oil & gas industry.[11] UBS later that month conceded and acknowledged that Tay did make some erroneous statements and painted a wrong picture on the state of the Malaysian economy.[12]

Ong has been a supporter for the development of electrical & electronics (E&E) industry in Malaysia[13] and has written extensively on his blog regarding the development of the industry.[14] He is also actively involved in the startup scene in Malaysia, evident through his comments[15] as well as him attending several events related to technology and start ups.[16][17]

In addition to this, Ong has also been a very strong advocate on the adoption of Industry 4.0-related processes into Malaysian industries.[18] He has been aggressively promoting the use and integration of technologies related to Industry 4.0 (IR 4.0).[19] Edwin Yapp, an author from Digital News Asia featured Ong's advocacy on Industry 4.0 as one of his five favorite things for 2019.[20]

Ong pioneered the Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (MERAP) and is the director for the project. He has published many of his findings on various news portal as well as discussed it with the Election Commission of Malaysia.[21][22]