Zachary David Liew Vui Keong
(;
Pha̍k-fa-sṳ
Pha̍k-fa-sṳ is an orthography similar to Pe̍h-ōe-jī and used to write Hakka, a variety of Chinese. Hakka is a whole branch of Chinese, and Hakka dialects are not necessarily mutually intelligible with each other, considering the large geogr ...
: ''Liù Vî-khiòng''; 18 January 1960 – 2 October 2020) was a
Malaysian
Malaysian may refer to:
* Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia
* Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia
* Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regar ...
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
who served as the
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department
The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department is a member of Cabinet of Malaysia who administers a portfolio through the Prime Minister's Department.
List of Ministers in the Prime Minister's Department
The following individuals have been appo ...
in charge of legal affairs in the
Pakatan Harapan
The Alliance of Hope ( ms, Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysian political coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the ...
(PH) administration under former
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
Mahathir Mohamad
Mahathir bin Mohamad ( ms, محاضير بن محمد, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author, and physician who served as the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the office ...
from July 2018 to the collapse of the
PH administration in February 2020 and
Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department also in charge of legal affairs as well as
Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry I in the
Barisan Nasional
The National Front ( ms, Barisan Nasional; abbrev: BN) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1973 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties. It is also the third largest political coalition with 30 se ...
(BN) administration under former
Prime Ministers
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is n ...
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Tun Abdullah bin Ahmad Badawi ( Jawi: عبد الله بن احمد بدوي; born 26 November 1939) is a Malaysian politician who served as the 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia from October 2003 to April 2009. He was also the sixth president of ...
and
Najib Razak
Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak ( ms, محمد نجيب بن عبد الرزاق, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset, ; born 23 July 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served as the 6th prime minister of Malaysi ...
from March 2008 to May 2013. He also served as the
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 Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...
(MP) for
Batu Sapi from May 2018 to his death in October 2020 and for
Sandakan
Sandakan (, Jawi script, Jawi: , ) formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and e ...
from March 2008 to his defeat in May 2013. He served as 3rd President of the
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2014, when he was replaced by Teo Chee Kang in a rancorous internal dispute. He disputed Teo's claim of the
LDP party presidency with the Registrar of Societies (RoS). In 2018, Liew led about 200
LDP members to leave the party. He then joined another
Sabah
Sabah () is a state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indonesia to the south. The Federal Territory ...
-based political party,
Sabah Heritage Party
The Heritage Party ( ms, Parti Warisan or Warisan) is a multi-racial political party in Malaysia which was rebranded and renamed from the Sabah Heritage Party ( ms, Parti Warisan Sabah), a Sabah-based party led by Shafie Apdal formed earlier o ...
(WARISAN) led by former
Chief Minister of Sabah
The Ketua Menteri Sabah or Chief Minister of Sabah is the head of government of the Malaysian state of Sabah. Since September 2020, the position has been held by Hajiji Noor from the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU), Perikatan N ...
Shafie Apdal
Datuk Seri Panglima Mohd Shafie bin Apdal ( Jawi: محمد شافعي بن أفضل; born 20 October 1956) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Semporna since April 1995, State Leader of the Opposition ...
and served as its Permanent Chairman.
On 2 October 2020, Liew died at the age of 60 from pneumonia while being treated for a slipped disc.
Political career
Criticism over ESSCOM
In 2016, Liew criticised the Eastern Sabah Security Command
The Eastern Sabah Security Command (ESSCOM) is a Malaysian security area that covers 1,400 km of the east coast of Sabah from Kudat to Tawau. It was established by Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Seri Najib bin Abdul Razak and announced on ...
(ESSCOM) and said it is a "complete failure" especially with the continuous abduction and urging the security council should sit down with the stakeholders and lay out their weaknesses, including a need for a complete revamp of their standard operating procedures and how to deal with pirates and militant groups.
Capital punishment abolishment
Following the formation of a new Malaysian government and his subsequent appointment as a Minister in the Prime Minister's Department on law matters in 2018, he stated that the new Malaysia's government was planning to abolish the mandatory capital punishment for all situations including for serious crimes, which later has been heavily opposed by many organisations and social groups in the country who were against a total abolition of the capital punishment due to the already high level of serious crimes.
Controversy
LDP's legal tangle
Liew had sacked 23 out of the 35 supreme council members as party members demanded top two positions to be contested. He was subsequently removed from his presidency post and was replaced by the sacked Secretary General Teo Chee Kang for his act of abuse of power in an attempt to consolidate his position as president. Liew's appeal to the Court of appeal over his removal from the presidency post was dismissed.
Elections
2013 general election
In the 2013 election, Liew faced Wong Tien Fatt
Datuk Wong Tien Fatt (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Vòng Thiên-fat''; 2 October 1954 – 28 March 2019), also known as Stephen Wong, was a Malaysian politician. He won to be the Member of Parliament for Sandakan in Sabah for two terms (2013–2019). ...
of Democratic Action Party
The Democratic Action Party ( abbreviation: DAP; ms, Parti Tindakan Demokratik; ; ta, ஜனநாயக செயல் கட்சி) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Malaysia. As one of four component parties of th ...
(DAP) and lost his parliamentary seat.
2018 general election
In the 2018 election
The following elections are scheduled to occur in 2018. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world.
Africa
*2018 Djiboutian parliamentary election 23 February 2018
*2018 Sierra Leonean general elect ...
, Liew was fielded as a candidate by his new party of WARISAN to contest the Batu Sapi parliamentary seat. He successfully won the seat by defeating Linda Tsen Thau Lin 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 using ...
(PBS).
Election results
Honours
Honours of Malaysia
* :
**
Commander of the Order of Kinabalu
The Illustrious Order of Kinabalu (Malay: ''Darjah Yang Amat Mulia Kinabalu'') is the only order conferred by the Governor of Sabah, Malaysia.
Background
The Illustrious Order of Kinabalu is established by virtue of Section 3(a) of State Honou ...
(PGDK) - Datuk (2006)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liew, Vui Keong
1960 births
2020 deaths
People from Sabah
People from Kota Belud District
Malaysian people of Hakka descent
Malaysian politicians of Chinese descent
Presidents of Liberal Democratic Party (Malaysia)
Sabah Heritage Party politicians
Members of the Dewan Rakyat
Government ministers of Malaysia
Commanders of the Order of Kinabalu
Deaths from pneumonia in Malaysia
21st-century Malaysian politicians