Profile of Dato’ Sri Liow Tiong Lai

Dato’ Sri 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.

Dato’ Sri 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 until now (General Election in 1999, 2004 & 2008). 

During the MCA Party Elections in 2008, he was elected as the Vice President of MCA. Prior to this, he served as Youth Chairman and  Secretary-General of the wing.

Dato’ Sr 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 Sri Sultan Ahmad Shah Pahang (SSAP) on Liow in 2009 which carried the title, "Dato' Sri". Prior to this he was awarded the Darjah Indera Mahkota Pahang (DIMP) in 2004, which carries the title,  “ Dato’ ” and Setia Mahkota Pahang (SMP) in 1997.

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

In March 2008, he was appointed as the Minister of Health Malaysia and re-appointed the same post in April 2009.