He also served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Batu Sapi from May 2018 till his death in October 2020 and for Sandakan from March 2008 to his defeat in May 2013.

He served as the 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.

[7] 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 Malaysia's new government was planning to abolish 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 capital punishment due to the already high level of serious crimes.

[12] In the 2013 election, Liew faced Wong Tien Fatt of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and lost his parliamentary seat.

He successfully won the seat by defeating Linda Tsen Thau Lin of the United Sabah Party (PBS).