Singapore hosted the championship in 1979 after the Philippines withdrew as the host. The number of teams increased to 15 (Singapore "B" were allowed to play to make number of participating teams even) although due to cost cutting they had to pay their own board and lodging for the first time. The "sudden death" time control was to be adopted, but at the captains' meeting there was an agreement that usual FIDE rules would apply after 40 moves as well. A controversial regulation was applied: player not able to provide a complete scoresheet at the end of the games was automatically forfeited, which resulted in a few mutual forfeits in the course of the games.

The tournament was divided into two stages — preliminaries and finals, with the top two teams from each of four preliminary groups qualifying to the championship final. The following top four teams were seeded: The Philippines (2360), China (2350), Indonesia (2270) and Singapore (2250).

As there were no real upsets in the preliminary phase all of top teams went through. The Philippines beat China 3—1 on the opening day of the final stage to pave their way to gold. On the last day they could well afford a brisk 2—2 with Australia to win with a 2½ point margin. China convincingly took silver while Indonesia came third. Bangladesh won the consolation tournament. The Philippines gained the title for the third time with a formidable line-up comprising a.o. GM Torre, who took gold medal at first board, and IM Mascariñas.