From Lottery Ticket Seller To Deputy Minister: The RM200,000 Gift That Changed Everything

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In 1989, 12-year-old Liew Chin Tong sold lottery tickets table-to-table at Petaling Jaya eateries every evening after school.

Young Liew was obsessed with politics, watching RTM’s 8 pm Mandarin news religiously every night, the only Chinese-language television news at the time.

One day, while selling tickets, Liew couldn’t believe his eyes: sitting at a table was Fei Chong Ming, one of the two most famous news anchors at the time, along with his wife, Madam Cheah Keng Sin, a well-known radio broadcaster.

“I was thrilled,” Liew recalled, immediately approaching the couple to chat excitedly about politics and current affairs.

It was a moment that would prove the truth of the Chinese saying, “千里马常有，而伯乐不常有” (Swift horses are common, but those who can recognise them are rare.)

Seven Years Later, A Reunion at a Wedding

Instead of brushing off the young lottery ticket seller, the famous couple took time to talk with him.

“Can you imagine how exciting it was for a child selling lottery tickets on the streets to meet a news anchor in real life, beyond the television screen?” Liew wrote in his tribute this week.

Seven years later, in 1996, Liew attended a wedding dinner and found himself seated at the same table as Mr and Mrs Fei.

Mrs Fei remembered the lottery ticket boy, and they had a pleasant conversation catching up.

After secondary school, Liew wanted to study in the United States, but the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis disrupted his plan.

After the 1999 general election, he became the first assistant to the newly elected MP for Seputeh, Teresa Kok.

“I Will Support You Until You Finish Your Degree”

By October 2000, Liew’s wish to pursue formal tertiary education in political science remained unwavering, so his family decided to refinance their house to raise tens of thousands of ringgit for his first year at the Australian National University.

The night before applying to university, Liew’s family visited Mr and Mrs Fei to borrow RM10,000 for legal fees, but after chatting for several hours, Mr Fei suddenly said smilingly, “I have decided not to lend you the RM10,000—you list down the cost to study at university, and I will support you until you finish your degree.”

Mr and Mrs Fei supported his tuition fees and living expenses for four years, from 2001 to 2005—a total of RM200,000.

“At that critical juncture, they gave me the greatest help that made all the difference,” Liew said.

Mr Fei passed away in 2012, and Madam Cheah recently passed away on 9 January 2026.

Today, Liew serves as Deputy Minister of Finance and MP for Iskandar Puteri—a living embodiment of “有教无类” (education knows no class) and “饮水思源” (when drinking water, remember its source), forever grateful to two people who saw potential in a lottery ticket seller and invested in his education.

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From Lottery Ticket Seller To Deputy Minister: The RM200,000 Gift That Changed Everything
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