Datuk Datuk (or its variant Dato or Datu) is a Malay language, Malay honorific title commonly used in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, as well as a traditional title by Minangkabau people in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Use of the title various between loc ...

Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew () is a Malaysian lawyer and politician from the

Sarawak United Peoples' Party The Sarawak United Peoples' Party ( abbrev: SUPP; ) is a multiracial local political party of Malaysia based in Sarawak. The SUPP president is Dr. Sim Kui Hian. He succeeded the post from his predecessor, Peter Chin Fah Kui in 2014. Establish ...

(SUPP), a component party of the ruling

Gabungan Parti Sarawak The Gabungan Parti Sarawak (abbreviation, abbrev: GPS; English: Sarawak Parties Alliance) is a Sarawak-based national political alliance in Malaysia. It was established in 2018 by four former Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties operating so ...

(GPS) coalition. He has served as State Deputy Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts of Sarawak in charge of Tourism in the GPS administration under Chief Minister

Abang Abdul Rahman Johari Abang Openg Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari bin Abang Openg (born 4 August 1950), also known as Abang Johari or Abang Jo, is a Malaysian politician who has served as the sixth and current Premier of Sarawak since 2017. A member of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersat ...

and Minister

Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah Abdul Karim bin Rahman Hamzah ( Jawi: عبد الكريم الرحمن حمزة; born 15 May 1960), is a Malaysian politician based in the state of Sarawak from the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), a major component party of the ruling ...

since January 2022 and Member of the

Sarawak State Legislative Assembly The Sarawak State Legislative Assembly is the legislative chamber of the unicameral legislature of the Malaysian state of Sarawak; the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sarawak forms the other part of the legislature. The Assembly is modelled after th ...

(MLA) for Piasau since May 2016. He served as State Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Sarawak from August 2019 to December 2021. He has also served as Secretary-General of SUPP since September 2014.

Early life and education

Ting attended the

North London Polytechnic The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the No ...

between 1979 and 1982 before graduating with a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

(LL.B.) with second class honours, first division. Immediately after, he pursued his postgraduate studies at

Darwin College, Cambridge Darwin College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded on 28 July 1964, Darwin was Cambridge University's first graduate-only college, and also the first to admit both men and wo ...

and subsequently graduated with a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

(LL.M.) with second class honours, second division. He returned to Malaysia upon completion of his studies and became a legal assistant at Wan Ullok Jugah Chin & Co Advocates in September 1984. From 1988 to April 2004, he served as the Managing Partner of the same law firm.

Political career

Ting was political secretary to former Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities of Malaysia,

Miri Miri () is a coastal city in north-eastern Sarawak, Malaysia, located near the border of Brunei, on the island of Borneo. The city covers an area of , located northeast of Kuching and southwest of Kota Kinabalu. Miri is the second largest ...

MP and former SUPP president

Peter Chin Fah Kui Peter Chin Fah Kui (; born 31 August 1945) is a former Malaysian politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Miri from 1985 to 2013 and served from 2004 to 2013 as a minister in the federal cabinet. From 2011 to 2014 he was the presiden ...

for a period of nine years between May 2004 and April 2009 and later when Chin was reassigned as Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water until May 2013. After Chin's retirement from public office in 2014, then-SUPP secretary-general and Ting's direct predecessor,

Sim Kui Hian Sim Kui Hian (; born 18 August 1965) is a Malaysian politician and cardiologist who is serving as the Deputy Premier of Sarawak and the territory's Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government Sarawak in the Gabungan Parti Saraw ...

, was elected as Chin's successor and Ting was subsequently made secretary-general. Prior to this, he had already been serving the party in the capacity of Publicity and Information secretary. He first tried his luck in an election for public office when he was nominated by SUPP as its candidate for the Miri parliamentary seat, but failed to win. In Ting's second election, he managed to win back the Piasau state seat from the

Democratic Action Party The Democratic Action Party (DAP; ) is a social democracy, social democratic and Secularism, secular political party in Malaysia, sitting on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. As one of four component parties of ...

's (DAP) Sarawak state liaison committee secretary,

Alan Ling Sie Kiong Alan Ling Sie Kiong (; born 19 February 1983) is a Malaysian politician and lawyer who served as Senator from August 2018 to August 2021 and Member of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Piasau from April 2011 to May 2016. He ...

, in a battle dubbed the "Battle of secretaries-general". In late 2017, Ting retained his post as SUPP secretary-general for a third term between 2018 and 2020 after the party received no nomination forms for the office. In the historic

14th Malaysian general election General elections were held in Malaysia on Wednesday, 9 May 2018. At stake were all 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, the lower house of parliament. The 13th Parliament was dissolved by Prime Minister Najib Razak on 7 April 2018. It would have be ...

that took place in May 2018, Ting once again contested for the Miri parliamentary seat but yet again failed to wrestle the seat from the incumbent,

Michael Teo Yu Keng Michael Teo Yu Keng () is a Malaysian politician and gynaecologist who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Miri from May 2013 to November 2022. He is a member of the People's Justice Party (PKR), a component party of the Pakatan Harapa ...

of PKR. The SUPP's disastrous showing in the election, where it only won one of the seven parliamentary seats it contested, led to some calling for Ting to resign as secretary-general, citing his supposed no-show post-election. On 22 August 2019, it was announced by the

Chief Minister of Sarawak The premier of Sarawak () is the head of government of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The premier leads the Government of Sarawak, the executive branch of the state government, and is appointed by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, the ceremonial gove ...

, that in a minor cabinet reshuffle, Ting was appointed as assistant Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture. Ting's predecessor and long-time assistant minister in the

Government of Sarawak The Sarawak Government is an authority governing Sarawak, one of the States and federal territories of Malaysia, Borneo states of Malaysia, and is based in Kuching, the state capital. The state government adheres to and is created by both the C ...

, Lee Kim Shin, was promoted to full ministership. On 30 December 2021, Chief Minister Abang Johari unveiled his new Cabinet lineup. Ting was then appointed as Assistant Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts in charge of Tourism on 4 January 2022.

Election results

Honours

* : **

MY Darjah Jasa Negara - Order of Meritorious Service - PJN

Commander of the

Order of Meritorious Service The Distinguished Order of Meritorious Service () is a Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting ...

(PJN) – Datuk (2017) * : ** MY-PAH Order of the Crown of Pahang - Knight Companion - DIMP

Knight Companion of the

Order of the Crown of Pahang The Esteemed Order of the Crown of Pahang ( Malay: '' Darjah Kebesaran Mahkota Pahang Yang Amat Mulia'') is a knighthood order of the Sultanate of Pahang. History The order was founded by Sultan Abu Bakar on 27 December 1968. It is awarded ...

(DIMP) – Dato' (2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ting, Sebastian Chiew Yew Living people People from Miri 20th-century Malaysian people Malaysian politicians of Chinese descent Members of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly 21st-century Malaysian politicians Sarawak United Peoples' Party politicians 20th-century Malaysian lawyers Commanders of the Order of Meritorious Service Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of Darwin College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of North London Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Malaysian lawyers

Early life and education

Political career

Election results

Honours

See also

References