[1] In addition, he served as 10th President of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a component party of the ruling BN coalition, from December 2013 to November 2018.

Born in Jasin, Malacca in 1961, Liow had ambitions of being a doctor but graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Nutrition) from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) instead.

In October 2008, Liow, who was the outgoing national youth chief of the MCA, raised the prospect of a second deputy chairman of Barisan Nasional to be appointed from among its component parties.

Observers felt that Liow's proposal was simply a gimmick for him to win the internal MCA party elections.

Wee Ka Siong, the incoming MCA youth chief, said: "It (Barisan top leadership) must be well represented.

Chan Kong Choy, MCA's deputy president, said: "The history in Barisan Nasional shows that there is no hard and fast rule that only the senior leaders of any party can automatically assume the positions in the coalition.

Tun (then Tan Sri) Michael Chen (a former MCA deputy president) was the Barisan Nasional secretary-general in 1974.

"[5] In response to Liow's call, then Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said, "The present Barisan setup is still workable.

[25][26][27] In 2009, Liow made a special appearance playing himself in a short film "Healthy Paranoia" of the 15Malaysia project commemorating Malaysia's independence.

[28][29] In a six-minute-long short video released in conjunction with the 2017 National Day celebrations entitled "Citizens" (Chinese: 国民), co-written and co-directed by Pete Teo and Liew Seng Tat, Liow played double roles as a minister and a citizen conversing to each other on the spirit of nation building.