He was a member of the Parliament of Malaysia from 28 January 1989 to 5 May 2013, the Transport Minister in the Malaysian federal cabinet from 18 March 2008 to 4 June 2010 and the 8th president of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a major component party of Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition from 18 October 2008 to 28 March 2010.