Profile of Dato’ Liow Tiong Lai

Dato’ Liow Tiong Lai was born in Jasin, Melaka in 1961. He graduated with a B.Sc (Hon) from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 1986. In 1994, he completed his MBA from the University of Malaya. He is married to Datin Lee Sun Loo and has 3 children age 16, 12 and 8.

Dato’ Liow’s political career began when he joined the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) in 1981. Upon graduating in 1986, he was employed as a Research Assistant based at INSAP, a think-tank initiated by the MCA. In 1988, he was appointed as a Personal Assistant to the Deputy President of MCA, Tan Sri Lee Kim Sai. From 1989-1996 he served as Press Secretary to the Minister of Labour, Tan Sri Lim Ah Lek. In 1996, he was appointed as Political Secretary to the Minister of Human Resources. In 1999 he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Bentong. He was re-elected for a second term during the 2003 General Elections.

During the MCA Party Elections in 2005, he was elected as the Youth Chairman. Prior to this, he served as the Secretary-General of the wing.

Dato’ Liow Tiong Lai played a substantive role in various organizations and was actively involved in organizing various programmes and events for the youths. He was also a member of several goodwill visits to China and has established close links with the Chinese Communist Party Youth Leadership. In addition, he was a member of several Barisan Nasional Youth delegations to Singapore and China. As a parliamentarian, he was a member of the Public Accounts Committee, Deputy Chairman of the Backbenchers Club and had represented the parliament in the ASEAN Inter Parliament Organisation (AIPO) meetings. 

The Sultan of Pahang bestowed the Setia Mahkota Pahang on Liow in 1997 and the Darjah Indera Mahkota Pahang in 2004, which carries the title,  “ Dato’ ”.

In February 2006, he was appointed as the Deputy Minister of Youth & Sports.   

In Mac 2008, he was appointed as the Minister of Health Malaysia.