Wising up to a whale of a tale
Once upon a time, Malaysians were enchanted with Jho Lows champagne lifestyle and proud that he had friends in high places. We now know better.
IF a poll was conducted to ask Malaysians to name their 10 most hated people, Low Taek Jho – also known as Jho Low – would surely be in the top five, if not three.
There has been a quick succession of books on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) saga and in the one by two Wall Street Journal reporters, Billion Dollar Whale, Low is the central villainous character.
Yet for a brief shining moment, this man was the pride of his home state and the nation.
Then Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng was reported as saying that he was proud to note the accomplishments of overseas Penangites, including this particularly “well-connected” fellow.
That was back in July 2010 when a mysterious Malaysian man of means started hitting the headlines for partying with the likes of Paris Hilton, and counted actors Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio and singer Usher as his good friends.
When Hilton – the glamour party girl before the Kardashians overtook her – was detained by drug enforcement officers in Paris in 2010, she was reportedly travelling with “personalities close to power in Malaysia”, Low being identified as one of them.
In just three months, his champagne-infused big spending ways – US$50,000 (RM206,800) or US$60,000 (RM248,190) a pop – set New York’s nightlife scene on fire and caught the attention of the US media. And that was how Low became famous.
Oh wait! He’s Malaysian, not some little emperor from Shanghai or Shenzhen, so we puffed up with pride at the success of one of our own.
Somehow, the ability to party with the rich and famous became a yardstick for success. The assumption was that Low must have done something great to be so filthy rich and make such “friends”.
Low, then 28, became a subject of intense curiosity that Malaysian and foreign media wanted to know.
Then The Star landed an exclusive interview with him. The two hours with him provided enough fodder for stories spread over two days on July 29 and 30, 2010.
The interview covered topics like his Arab childhood friends and investors whom he said were the real big spenders, how he made his first million when he was just 20 and his expertise in setting up sovereign wealth funds.
Yes, we were pretty pleased with ourselves for beating the competition in getting Low to speak.
The interview was picked up by other newspapers and portals locally, regionally and internationally.
The Star took efforts to provide Low’s personal details like his age, birthplace, education and languages spoken.
What I also found amusing was that we also gave his height (1.7m) and his weight (88kg), which is not common for such interviews. That was probably our nice way of indicating how chubby he was.
The stories were positive pieces, painting Low as a successful role model. Of course, at that time, no one suspected that he was the mastermind behind the world’s biggest kleptocracy.
We were simply dazzled by his partying playboy high life and accepted in good faith all his claims on why he was successful: he went to the right schools, from Chung Ling to Wharton School of Business, made well-connected, influential friends (especially Arab royals) and got a great financial start.
As The Star reported: “At the age of 20, (he) started an investment company called The Wynton Group with US$25mil (RM103.4mil) from family and South-East Asian and Middle Eastern friends. The investment company in which he owns a stake is now worth in excess of US$1bil (RM4.1bil).”
Penang businessman Tan Sri Tan Kok Ping, a close family friend, described Low as a very bright person who respected his elders.
He was also “an active person, has a corporate brain and his public relations skills are equally good. He’s also quite a fast eater.
“I watched him grow up since he was a kid and I knew he was brilliant, but I never thought he would be so successful,” said Tan.
A reader who was so impressed by the Star exclusive blogged about his son having studied in Harrow in Bangkok and opined: “He (the son) is certainly no Jho Low, but I hope he can learn the positives from Jho’s life and work hard and be successful.”
Well, we now know better how Low operated and whose money he was spending on his celebrity friends and more.
From the man with the Midas touch, he has become the embarrassment no famous person wants to touch. I doubt Hilton or Usher takes his calls anymore. He is a fugitive on the lam, hunted by governments around the globe.
Much as he is furiously claiming innocence, he is indeed our billion-dollar whale. The whale is a metaphor in business, meaning to land large accounts that can transform a small company into a major player.
A whale can also mean a businessman who is close to a country’s regime, is protected by the state and receives government contracts and large bank loans without any collateral, as explained in the book, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty.
The maddening fact is this portly plunderer is hard to find. He apparently has multiple passports, including one from St Kitts and Nevis.
It’s very possible he is no longer 88kg. He could be thinner or fatter – depending on whether stress makes him eat even more and faster – or had plastic surgery, grown or lost his hair, but he should still be 1.7m tall, unless he wears hidden heels in his shoes.
Our government has said it is not sure where he’s hiding, but with Malaysians in just about every corner of the world, can we not somehow tap into this vast network? Even a whale must surface for air somehow, somewhere.
What really got my goat was what he glibly said in the Star interview: “Ultimately, I am Malaysian. I am one who does not forget my country and I think there is a lot we can do for Malaysia. But when you build the trust of investors, you need to deliver what you promised.
“For me, we all work very hard. Of course, we have a disadvantage where at our age, people may perceive it differently. At the end of the day, I handle investors’ money prudently. I generate returns for them.”
And this: “I am not an excessive person. Excessiveness with alcohol is just not me.”
No, not in alcohol but his name is now synonymous with excessiveness in luxury acquisitions.
Oh, where’s Capt Ahab when we need him?
Aunty wants to remind all of us that truly, all that glitters is not gold. Feedback to aunty@thestar.com.my
Credit: June H. L Wong, So aunty, so what?
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