Isaac Liu

Isaac Liu Yonghua  OHL  ONS   (July 1, 1916 - November 23, 2020) was a Tsengian politician. With a political career spanning 58 years, he is the longest serving government official in Tsengian history, beginning as a member of the National State Assembly in 1954, and working his way up to the Prime Minister, holding that position for 42 years, from 1968 to 1979, and again from 1980 to 2012.

Although he originally identified as a socialist, Liu moved to the right in the late 1940s after seeing right-wing Huang-li make Tseng into a prosperous country. Liu veered sharply to the far-right in the 1950s and during the Dazhuo Era after seeing the communists make chaos. At the beginning of his prime ministry in 1968, Liu was a far-right member of the NPP. However, he slowly moved to the centre. He supported the Reforms of 90 and became a centrist. Well-liked by almost everyone, he is considered to be one of the greatest Tsengians in history, and his death was greeted by a huge funeral and weeping.

Early life
Liu was born on July 1, 1916, to poor farmers Mark and Alice Wang, in the outskirts of Stone Coast (modern Shimenxhi). One of his eight siblings, Liu Yongxing, would later become a famous entrepreneur and founder of AZM. As Liu's parents were socialists, he aligned himself with the left-wing.

He earned top marks at his school, the Westown High School, and earned a scholarship to the prestigious University of Tokyo in Japan. He graduated in 1936 with a bachelor's degree in political studies. Liu moved to Lisbon, Portugal, with his wife, Emily, in 1939.

Early career
After the end of World War II in 1945, Liu moved from Lisbon back to Port Elizabeth, AFJAT. He became a member of the National Prosperity Party (Tseng's conservative party), and was elected to the National State Assembly in 1954, at the age of 38.

Political position
As the Dazhuo went on, Liu grew to hate communism and socialism. From the Longtan Coup to the Coup of 11/11, Liu said this was his "far-right" phase. He actively ordered attacks on socialists and was the one that ordered right-wing terrorists to murder Frederik Bao in 1967.

First premiership (1968-1979)
After the end of the junta on December 20, 1968, new president Stephen Yang appointed Jiang Songren as vice-president and Isaac Liu as prime minister. He was very favourable with Yang and the next president, Guo Ming-wang, even though Guo was a member of the PDP. However, by 1979 Guo and Liu had fallen out, and Liu was replaced by future president Thomas Lan-xiao on September 14, 1979.

Second premiership (1980-2012)
On July 31, 1980, Thomas Lan-xiao appointed Issac Liu as prime minister, replacing the PDP Arthur Cai. Liu would later have 32 years of uninterrupted power, as all presidents (and after 2000, the legislature) were very favourable of him, and he was arguably the second-most popular Tsengian politician of the people, only falling to Pierre Huang-li.

On October 8, 2012, Liu announced his resignation to the National State Assembly near the end of a session. All, regardless of party affiliation, rose and gave Liu a standing ovation. Some of Liu's close friends and members of the Assembly, like the Minister of Education Zhou Quan (NPP) and Minister of Culture Alex De (PDP), shed tears.

Death
On November 23, 2020, Liu was found dead by his butler Jim Chong in his bedroom in his vacation home in Bukit Timah, Singapore. The funeral proccesion was held on November 26, when Liu's body arrived from Singapore. About 750,000 people attended the funeral in Tseng City in its first day. The official cause of death was old age.

Personal life
Isaac Liu married his first (and most important) wife in Sapporo, Japan in 1938, a Chinese named Liu Zhenyi (劉珍儀). They had 5 children: Paul (1939-1960), Richard (Richie) (1939-), Sophia (1941-), Lily (1942-2005), and Sandra (1945-). Emily Liu died of breast cancer in 1983. Liu married Li Qing-yan (黎青顏) in 1988. She died of natural causes in 2016.

Liu was a Roman Catholic. He was very fit and boasted that he had a strong immune system.