Mary Yap Kain Ching () is a Malaysian politician and the former Deputy Minister of Higher Education in the Cabinet of

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

. She is a member of

United Sabah Party The United Sabah Party ( ms, Parti Bersatu Sabah, abbreviated PBS) is a political party of Sabah. The PBS was founded by Joseph Pairin Kitingan in 1985 and it is Sabah's oldest local party. In August 2020, PBS confirmed that they would be usin ...

(PBS).

Personal life

Mary was born on 10 March 1951 in Tawau,

Crown Colony of North Borneo The Crown Colony of North Borneo was a British Crown colony on the island of Borneo established in 1946 shortly after the dissolution of the British Military Administration. The Crown Colony of Labuan joined the new Crown Colony during its f ...

and spent most of her childhood there before being sent to

Kota Kinabalu , image_skyline = , image_caption = From top, left to right, bottom:Kota Kinabalu skyline, Wawasan intersection, Tun Mustapha Tower, Kota Kinabalu Coastal Highway, the Kota Kinabalu City Mosque, the Wism ...

to live with relatives after Form 3 to continue her studies. She is a devout

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

Educational career

Mary started her career as a lecturer and teacher in the 1970s. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature in 1974 from

Universiti Malaya The University of Malaya ( ms, Universiti Malaya, UM; abbreviated as UM or informally the Malayan University) is a public university, public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest and highest ranking Malaysian i ...

on a federal scholarship and a Diploma of Education from the same university the following year. In 1994, she completed her Master of Education (TESOL) from the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

, Britain. She was the principal of a prestigious private school in

when she retired in 2007. She was an advisor to the Minister of Education on the Cluster Schools of Excellence Movement from 2007 to 2009. The Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organisation awarded her the second Lý Chánh Đức Award. She was appointed to the Women's Advisory Council for Sabah as a member and the chair of Education Committee in 2009. Along the same year, she was appointed to the PINTAR Foundation. In 2013, she completed her PhD program. From 2013 to 2015, she was the Deputy Minister of Education. She is the Higher Education Deputy Minister of Malaysia. On 10 November 2017, she opened the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Research Centre for the University of Malaysia.

Political career

Prior to the 2013 general election, she contest the parliamentary seat in her hometown of Tawau and won, subsequently became 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 o ...

for the town.

Election results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yap, Mary Malaysian Christians Living people 1951 births Members of the Dewan Rakyat Women in Sabah politics Women members of the Dewan Rakyat Malaysian women academics United Sabah Party politicians Malaysian politicians of Chinese descent