A report in Malaysiakini by Andrew Ong stated that the newly appointed Health Minister, Liow Tiong Lai, is well-aware but unperturbed by his appointment to a post which many regard as a ‘cursed’ post for MCA leaders. “Don’t worry about history. The jinx has to break somewhere,” he said.

The jinx started in 1969, when then Health Minister Dr Ng Kam Poh lost to DAP rookie Chan Fu King, a bus conductor, for the Telok Intan (then Telok Anson) parliamentary seat. Following that the following Health Ministers - Lee Siok Yew, Chin Hon Ngain, Mak Hon Kam, Chan Siang Sun, Ng Cheng Kiat, Lee Kim Sai, Chua Jui Meng and Dr Chua Soi Lek - had their political careers cut short.

Liow, instead, regards the Health Ministry as a passionate ministry.