Key Extracts from '7 Habits of Highly Effective People' by Stephan Covey

Ah, Steven Covey. You genius, you.

Being an internationally acclaimed best-seller and the fundamentals of most successful management moguls (whether they realize they emulate this or not), the foundation of school modules, the subject of motivational talks for companies, I had to give this a read, mentally prepared for the possibility that it was going to be dry and well, everything that you'd expect a self help book to be.

For context, it's a synergy of many minds' extracts, conceptualized from the 70s , a product of painstaking review of success literature as part of a doctorate program. So it's not one man's brainchild per se, but a mode to have these  'natural laws' synthesized and made accessible for people. 

I was pleasantly surprised (!) because it was laden with one-liner gems and easily adaptable habits, which, if adopted, have the power to create a ripple effect of change which makes you so proud you started with the small steps. It only took three months, in between the toiling with my regular work as a litigation lawyer. But it's finally done. I will try to keep this takeaway as TLDR as possible. 

The whole book is split into internal changes (Habits 1-3) which have to be worked on before you generate outward habits or changes (Habits 4-6). 

Habit 1 :Be proactive.

Less complaining and more effort. Be grounded in what we CAN CONTROL versus ruminating on what we CANNOT CONTROL. Be proactive and take responsibility over your choices. In order to be effective, we must be proactive. Reactive people take a passive approach and complain, favoring blaming the mishaps on circumstances beyond their control, often having a blind spot to what was within their control, dooming themselves. Reactive people feel victimised. This shrinks their circle of influence. The positive acts we take  increases the radius of our 'circle of influence' within our 'circle of concern'. 

Reactive language: He makes me so mad!

Proactive language: I control my own feelings.

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MEMORABLE QUOTES:

• "Between stimulus and response, man has the freedom to choose."
  
  
• "A serious problem with reactive language is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. People become reinforced in the paradigm that they are determined, and they produce evidence to support the belief. They feel increasingly victimized and out of control, not in charge of their life or their destiny. They blame outside forces- other people , circumstances, even the stars- for their own situation."
  
  
• "If our feelings control our actions, it is because we have abdicated our responsibility and empowered them to do so."
  
  
• "It's not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that hurts us...our most difficult experiences become the crucibles that forge our character and develop the internal powers, the freedom to handle difficult circumstances in the future, and to inspire others to do so as well."
  
  
• "Nothing has a greater, longer-lasting impression upon another person than the awareness that someone has transcended suffering, has transcended circumstance, and is embodying and expressing a value that inspires and ennobles and lifts life."
  
  
  
  
  
  

Habit 2: Begin with the end in mind.

Start with a clear destination in mind. Use our conscience to decide what values will guide us. Evaluate the meaning behind our business and victories. Are we running purely on automatism? So the key is to have a personal 'mission statement' , whether in businesses, families or even self goals by identifying our values. Re-scripting is writing off limiting scripts and and rewriting proactive ones. Are you doing things in life which align with what you want to say about your own self at your funeral? Do you want to be able to say you were a good spouse? then are you doing the things which allow you to say that, or are you filled with negativity when you see your spouse?

What to do:

1. Visualise your own funeral- who's there, what are they saying about you? how would your priorities change if you knew you only had 30 days to live?

2. Break down different roles in your life, i.e personal, professional or community , then list 3 goals you want to achieve to meet standards set for them

3. Define what scares you - Then visualise how you would handle your situation. 

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MEMORABLE QUOTES :

• "If you carefully consider what you wanted to be said of you in the funeral experience, you will find your definition of success. It may be different from the definition you thought you had in mind. Perhaps fame, achievement, money, or some of the other things we strive for are not even part of the right wall."
  
  
• "We reactively live the scripts handed to us by family, associates, other people's agendas, the pressures of circumstance-- scripts from other people's agendas, the pressures of circumstance- scripts from our earliest years, from our training, our conditioning. These scripts come from people, not principles. And they rise out of our deep vulnerabilities,, our deep dependency on others and our needs for acceptance and love, for belonging , for a sense of importance and worth, for a feeling that we matter. "
  
  
• "If my sense of security lies in my reputation or in the things I have, my life will be in a constant state of jeapordy that these posessions may be lost or stolen or devalued. If I'm in the presence of someone of greater net worth or fame or status, I feel inferior. If I'm in the presence of someone of lesser net worth or fame or status, I feel superior. My sense of self worth constantly fluctuates. I don't have any sense of constancy or anchorage or persistent selfhood. I am constantly trying to protect and insure my assets, properties, securities, position or reputation."
  
  
• "The individual who is friend or enemy centered has no instrinsic security. Feelings of self worth are volatile, a function of the emotional state or behaviour of other people. Guidance comes from the person's perception of how others will respond, and wisdom is limited by the social lens or by an enemy-centered paranoia. The individual has no power. Other people are pulling the strings."
  
  
• "Principles don't react to anything. They don't get mad and treat us differently. They won't divorce us or run away with our best friend. They aren't out to get us. They can't pave our way with shortcuts and quick fixes."
  
  
• "The personal power that comes from principle-centered living is the power of a self-aware, knowledgable, proactive individual, unrestricted by the attitudes, behaviours, and actions of others or by many of the circumstances and environmental influences that limit other people."
  
  
• "A mission statement is not something you write overnight. It takes deep introspection, careful analysis, thoughtful expression and often many rewrites to produce it in your final form."
  
  
  
  
  
  

Habit 3: Put first things first.

It's more technical and uses a 'time management matrix' but in essence, it preaches to identify your end goals and then act in ways which align with these goals. Have discipline to prioritise our day to day actions based on what is important, not what is the most urgent. Act according to values not impulses. For example you cannot say you want to be healthier but do not devote the time, this valuable resource we have, in the day to exercise, care about your nutrition, etc. Move as many items into Quadrant 2, Not Urgent but Important. 

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MEMORABLE QUOTES:

• "The degree to which we have developed our independent will in our everyday lives is measured by our personal integrity. Integrity is, fundamentally, the value which we place on ourselves. It's our ability to walk our talk. It's honour with self, a fundamental part of the Character Ethic, the essence of proactive growth."
  
  
• "Discipline derives from disciple-- disciple to a philosophy, disciple to a set of principles, disciple to a set of values, disciple to an overriding purpose, to a superordinate goal or a person who represents that goal."
  
  
• "That subordination requires a purpose, a mission. A Habit 2 clear sense of direction and value, a burning 'yes' inside that makes it possible to say 'no' to other things."
  
  
• "Trust is the highest form of motivation. It brings out the very best in people. But it takes time and patience, and it doesn't preclude the necessity to train and develop people so that their competency can rise to the level of trust."
  
  
• "Set aside 30 minutes each week to plan your week, and watch it change your life."
  

Habit 4: Think Win -Win

It prescribes that nobody has to 'lose' in order for you to 'win' . Not everything has to be like a zero sum game. In order to establish effective interdependent relationships that are mutually beneficial and satisfying to each party, win-win is the answer. 

4 Paradigms of human interaction:

1. Win-Lose people are prone to use position, power, credentials and personality to get their way. 

2. Lose- Win people are people pleasers and seek strength from popularity and appearances. 

3. Lose- Lose people are driven by their egocentric , stubborn. 

4. Win-Win or no deal- If an agreement cant be reach where it's not mutually benefit, then there is no deal. It is premised on an abundant mentality or that there is enough for everyone. The more committed we are to win-win, the more powerful our influence will be. 

Each approach must be selectively used at different times and places!

What to do?

1. Align our reward systems with our goals and values 

2. Have systems in place to support win-win - write a list of what the other person needs to win, and how you can contribute to that. Do you give more than you take, or take more than you give?

3.  Deeply consider your own interaction tendencies and whether it serves you well in your relationships.

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MEMORABLE QUOTES: 

• "When someone has to earn love, what's being communicated to them is that they are not intrinsically valuable or lovable. Value does not lie inside them, it lies outside."
  
  
• "Certainly we need law, otherwise, society will deteriorate. It provides survival, but it does not create synergy."
  
  
• "Some people become so centered on an enemy, so totally oblivious with the behaviour of another person that they become blind to everything except their desire for that person to lose, even if it means losing themselves. Lose/Lose is the philosophy of adversarial conflict, the philosophy of war."
  
  
• "If you value a relationship and the issue isn't really that important, you may want to go for Lose/ Win in some circumstances...'What I want isn't as important to me as my relationship with you.'"
  
  
• "What constitutes a win-what is, in fact, harmonious with our innermost values."
  
  
• "Consideration deals with the long-term welfare of the golden egg, consideration deals with the long-term welfare of the other stakeholders"
  
  
• (On the meaning of emotional maturity)"the ability to express one's own feelings and convictions balanced with consideration for the thoughts and feelings of others"

Habit 5: Seek first to Understand, then to be understood

A simple example would be , imagine you've visited an optometrist because you have troubles seeing clearly. He takes off his own pair of glasses and hands it to you , compelling you to try it because it worked for him for years. Don't prescribe solutions before you deeply understand the problem. Don't listen with intent to reply. Listen with intent to understand. It emphasises emphatic listening, being do not listen autobiographically (i.e, with our own perspective as our frame of reference) to shove your experience down someone's throat , they are not experiencing this through your lens. They want to be heard first before they require your prescription. Don't neglect the second part, seeking to be understood takes courage. 

What to do:

1. Look at interactions outside of words, but body language. 

2. When presenting, root it in empathy, describe the audience's point of view in great details 

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MEMORABLE QUOTES:

• "Because we listen autobiographically, we tend to respond in one of four ways. We evaluate- we either agree or disagree; we probe-we ask questions from our own frame of reference; we advise- we give counsel based on our own experience; or we interpret - we try to figure people out, to explain their motives, their behaviour, based on our own motives and behaviour"
  
  
• "Can you see how limited we are when we try to understand another person on the basis of words alone, especially when we're looking at that person through our own glasses? Can you see how limiting our autobiographical responses are to a person who is genuinely trying to get us to understand his autobiography? You will never be able to truly step inside another person, to see the world as he sees it, until you develop the pure desire, the strength of personal character, and the positive Emotional Bank Account , as well as the emphatic listening skills to do it."
  
  
• "Describe the alternative they are in favour of better than they can themselves. Show that you understand them in depth. Then carefully explain the logic behind your request."

Habit 6: Synergy 

Basically the whole is greater than the sum of parts. [1+1 = 3] Value each others' differences being the essence of synergy, i.e the mental, emotional and psychological differences between us. It serves to add to your knowledge bank. It also defines brainstorming as an evaluation being subordinated to creativity, imagination and intellectual networking.

What to do:

1. Mastering Habit 4 and 5 first, Think win-win then seek first to understand. Only then you find strength in the alternative perspectives.  

2. Only then, you can synergise your desires with the other , it's both against the problem, understanding the needs, and creating a third alternative solution so there's win-win and the relationship is nurtured in the process. 

3. Think about someone you hate and why he disagrees with you after you first put yourself in his shoes. The better you understand him the better you get to synergise. 

4. Think of someone who you get along with. What conditions were met for synergy to be optimised in these good interactions?

MEMORABLE QUOTES

• "Nearly all creative endeavors are somewhat unpredictable. They often seem abigious, hit-or-miss, trial and error. And unless people have a high tolerance for ambiguity and get their security from integrity to principles and inner values, they find it unnerving and unpleasant to be involved in highly creative enterprises. Their need for structure, certainty and predictability is too high."
  
  
• "The person who is truly effective has the humility and reverence to recognise his own perceptual limitations and to appreciate the rich resources available through interaction with the hearts and minds of other human beings. That person values the differences because those differences add to his knowledge, to his understanding of reality. When we're left to our own experiences, we constantly suffer from a shortage of data."
  

Habit 7 : Sharpen the Saw 

We can't find 30 minutes a day 4 times a week to go to the gym. We can't read a book 15 minutes a day to stimulate our brain. You're saying it takes too much time. But your goal would have been to be healthier and fitter, and to be smarter. This prescribes not skipping the foundations and jumping straight into the finished product because you think you're saving time. It's counter productive ! There are 4 dimensions to our nature which must be exercised often. 

What to do?:

First, the physical, which requires us to eat well, exercise to benefit flexibility and strength. 

Secondly, spiritually we are renewed when we have leadership in life and commits us to our value systems. Communicate with nature ! immerse in great literature  ! 

Thirdly , mental dimension is intended to continue expanding our mind and its thresholds. We do this by journaling and reducing our  unproductive screen time. 

Fourth, socially helps us have meaningful connections with others- We do this by deeply understanding people, maintaining an abundance mentality. 

MEMORABLE QUOTES:

• "A good exercise program is one that you can do in your own home and one that will build your body in three areas: endurance, flexibility and strength."
  
  
• "The essence of renewing the physical dimension is to sharpen the saw, to exercise our bodies on a regular basis in a way that will preserve and enhance our capacity to work and adapt and enjoy"
  
  
• "To him, prayer was not a mechanical duty but rather a source of power in releasing and multiplying his energies."
  
  
• "Where does intrinsic security come from? It doesn't come from what other people think of us or how they treat us. It doesn't come from the scripts they've handed us. It doesn't come from our circumstances or position. It comes from within. It comes from accurate paradigms and correct principles deep in our own mind and heart. It comes from inside-out congruence, from living a life of integrity in which our daily habits reflect our deepest values."
  
  
• "This is the true joy in life- that being used for a purpose recognised by yourself as a mighty one...It's sort of splendid torch which I've got to hold up for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations." 

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Some OTHER memorable quotes for me from the book:

• (On how perceptions are formed) "It taught me that we must look at the lens through which we see the world, as well as at the world we see, and that the lens itself shapes how we interpret the world"
  
  
• "The success literature of the past 50 years was superficial- it was filled with social image consciousness techniques and quick fixes - with social Band Aids and aspirin that addressed acute problems and sometimes even appeared to solve them temporarily, but left the underlying chronic problems untouched to fester and resurface time and time again"
  
  
• "Many people with secondary greatness- that is, social recognition for their talents - lack primary greatness or goodness in their character. Sooner or later, you'll see this in every long-term relationship they have, whether it is with a businessman associate, a spouse, a friend, or a teenage child going through an identity crisis. It is character that communicates most eloquently. ... What you are shouts so loudly that I cannot hear what you say"
  
  
• (On the idea that there is more than one way to look at things that neither has to be "wrong". It's being open and receptive to another's idea. )"The more bound a person is by the initial perception, the more powerful the "Aha!" experience is, It's as though a light were suddenly turned on inside"
  
  
• "We can only achieve quantum improvements in our lives as we quit hacking at the leaves of attitude and behaviour and get to work on the root, the paradigms from which our attitudes and behaviours flow."
  
  
• "Principles are not values. A gang of thieves can share values, but they are in violation of the fundamental principles we're talking about. Principles are the territory. Values are maps. When we value correct principles, we have a truth- a knowledge of things as they are...The more closely our maps or paradigms are aligned with these principles or natural laws, the more accurate and functional they will be."
  
  
• "Borrowing strength builds weakness...And what happens when the source of borrowed strength - be it superior size or physical strength, position, authority, credentials, status symbols, appearance or past achievements -changes or is no longer there?"
  
  
• Albert Einstein observed, 'The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them' 
   
• "The inside out approach says that private victories precede public victories, that making and keeping promises to ourselves precedes making and keeping promises to others."
  
  

TLDR:

This is one of those reads which altered my brain's chemicals, thought process and structures. Would recommend people to read, annotate and apply this in their daily lives through the guided journal workbook that you can find in a bookstore. 

The glory of love

Today feels like a day to write about love. I've had many years to experience it firsthand, secondhand. (Sometimes, even with my right hand?). Hehe. Jokes.

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*DISCLAIMER*

*I get how it may make me sound bitter (which I am not because I am finally understanding what they meant when they tell you that it's important to spend time alone) but it's purely a record of what I observed. It does not mean that I close my doors on love and vulnerability, but reaching my late 20s, I just have a better grasp of certain blind spots. I am not anti-love. I am just pointing out a systematic indoctrination that may mean we are doomed from the start! I mean, if people did not love one another, then how would there be a next generation? we would live in a world of chaos and war, murders, crime, and a complete decimation of religion. And that wouldn't be a very nice place to live, would it? 

However, if there's a takeaway from this post, it's that it's always good to be aware if this "love" was actually your choice to make or whether you were part of a multi-systemic indoctrination. *

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So, basically, I've come to see that marriage has very little to do with falling in love and more to do with companionship.

As long as we live in a world which glorifies marriage as some ultimate end goal,  as long as we live in a world where friendships are not valued as much as a boyfriend or husband, as long as we live in a world that you're somehow only complete if a man is holding your hand, as long as it's more important to stay married while hating every second of it than to thrive solo, (and bearing in mind that this comes from a perspective of someone who is not in a relationship or marriage herself), marriage has more to do with:-

- practicalities of not dying alone when your parents aren't around

- ending the societal pressure to be accountable for why you're not in your 'next stage' of life

- picking someone and making it work till death does you apart

- having someone make you soup when you're sick, now or at 80

- someone sending you a morning text so it tells you they care if you're alive or missing

- having someone to raise a child with, and then, hopefully, by virtue of the fact that the both of you created that child, one would not abandon the other

- having someone to laugh with  

- having someone to do shared hobbies with

- having someone to make dinner for

etc.

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Somehow, when you get older, the definition of love transforms. It takes a more... mature shape and form. You come to accept that it will never feel all-consuming in the way that it used to when you were a teenager or in your early 20s, doing a trial run of what spectrum of emotions you could feel. Suddenly, on a balance of probabilities, and in a bid to leap into a violent ocean based on calculated risks, the concept of arranged marriage (which you swore that you wouldn't want for yourself because why would you settle for this compared to the magic of love)....makes sense?

Whether we like it or not, 'true love' and marriage has been (and continues to be) glorified in the form of literature, music, and movies and culture. So from before we understood what words were, the seed was sown. (Exhibit A below)

Love makes you vulnerable and sometimes, for lack of better words,  even a little stupid. 

In your early childhood, each person develops a perception of what 'home' is. When we are faced with our parents' mortality, (the fact that one day they mom and dad will be gone and that becomes the ultimate demise of our childhood), whether we realise it or not, we try to mimic some semblance of this 'home' in a partner so that a little bit of your childhood lives on.  

So basically, if  'home' looked like chaos, people become much more okay to settle for chaotic, seemingly toxic and abusive behaviours in partners because even if the whole world sees it, it's not immediately obvious or unthinkable for the person knee deep in an unhealthy relationship to live with someone like that. 

And on the other hand, if you grew up with a healthy model of what love is, a good sense of self esteem/self-confidence, an understanding of your true worth, when being alone sounds like peace to you as opposed to a punishment, the search for 'the one' could become a lot more difficult, perhaps because you have the ability to provide yourself most of the emotional needs you may have. Staying in a long lasting relationship often involves compromises or apologising when you are not wrong just so that a fight ends (among many other unspoken rules). Your potential partner choices are now competing with your peace in solitude. What are the chances of another person improving your life better than the ways you already manage to provide for yourself? 

I personally witnessed how one partner creates a problem for the other, then proceeds to swoop in to solve that same problem, causing the other to feel so much gratitude and amazement at their "conflict-resolution-skills" and feeling assured that it's a solid partnership, while being blind to how the problem was created by their own partner in the first place. And then when I pointed it out, I was told "you wouldn't understand". It's almost as if they WANT to hypnotize themselves to believe that their life now has a hero.

I personally witnessed how if before, someone would have known perfectly fine knew how to change their own lightbulb, car tyres, assemble their own furniture, solo travel, navigate unknown places with GPS, create pros and cons lists and choose decisions, make their own soup when sick, write their thoughts with clarity,  suddenly, when a partner is in the picture, even if you know how to do these things,  .... you suddenly don't (?) It's almost as if biologically, love becomes a drug that makes your peace and existence absolutely dependant on the other being around, doing those things you can very well do for yourself, and in effect, it makes the both of you a little stupider(?) in order for that the relationship can sustain?

I personally witnessed partnerships which start out from one person admiring or being infatuated with certain traits the other has. But when the partnership is created, they develop an almost melted/enmeshed existence and both individuals now transform into one unified blob rather than maintaining what made them attractive as individual people, creating a synergy of each ones' individual strengths, preferences and dislikes. 

The next thing you know, it's "we're not going" , "we're sick", "we don't watch that" , "we won't be buying that" "we don't believe in that", "we're pregnant" when actually, it's only about one of them. That's how you begin to lose who you are in a relationship and set yourself up for a MAGNANIMOUS scale of heartache. Please watch below to learn what enmeshment really is about. 

I personally witnessed how, in the name of love, there are a lot of delicate balances you'd not want to upset. For example, if a woman were earning more or spending (one sided perceptions of) 'too much time' with their passion and job, that risks upsetting the balance of "gender roles" of the traditional provider. And deep down, to sustain that marriage, these women (and of course sometimes this is men too!) do realise that what they are doing is dimming their light to make the other appear brighter. But it's the bargain they are happy to strike in the name of the greater (probably indoctrinated) purpose of announcing to the world that you will not be dying alone.

(If you know this scene from Crazy Rich Asians, this is a perfect depiction of that)

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So, why do we do it? In spite of secretly knowing everything I just mentioned?

....Because perhaps, love is the most instinctively human thing you can do!

Omissions.

Too many people get away scot-free by feigning ignorance and completely evading their responsibility by failing to do what they are ethically or morally supposed to. 

Not this Scott. 

 

You get it. 

Sometimes, it might even make them bigger assholes than people who actually do hurtful things. 

"I didn't ask him/her to develop feelings for me ?"

(But there was a lot that could have been said or done to not let these feelings grow/ blossom, especially since , well, you ALWAYS know. There are countless acts that could have been taken to communicate clearly or to stop someone from setting themselves up for the heartache of their lifetime.) 

"I wasn't a bad friend? I was just caught up with how busy with life , you know how it is.. that's why I didn't text or didn't call. Not because you're not important." 

(There's a fine line btw timeout to tend to adult responsibilities and 6 months to 1 year of cold turkey silence. A phone call , text and plan-making works two ways. . But maybe your friend's prolonged periods of silence could be their loud suffering? Or do you only reach out when you need something from them? ) 

*Ofc this varies for how close you are to someone and whether or not you're sinking yourself! *

"I didn't flirt with --? This is how I always am with everyone!" 

(You already know what you're doing with your body language, lowered or higher tone of voice, stance etc. Sometimes it may happen without you realising cause you may subconsciously find someone attractive but you kinda have to back off when it's off limits I guess ? Because guess what. You're equally guilty if Mr/Mrs off-limits reciprocates! ) 

"I didn't do anything to make you feel small? I can't help it if being who I am makes you feel dumb?" 

(Despite knowing that condescension is a dish served so many ways like tone, words, pace, intentionally discussing something you know your listener has no clue about because you want an 'upper hand' and can provide no valuable input so you can feel like you're real smart)

"I didn't force them, they can always say no?" (While ignoring the practical realities of them not actually being able to decline without looking like an asshole even though they were the person being asked) 

 "Is there anything else you think I should know about before I do ___...?" (When you know something that they really ought to know before making the decision, but you thought you could get away with " you asked me what I think?")

What would you call it? ...Common decency, Ethics...?  

In fact, there's a term for this in criminal law. It's called 'omissions'. It creates an element of blame from the failure to act. Especially when there is a duty to say or do something.

...But you didn't do anything , did you ? 

Billion Dollar Whale- A candid review by a young lawyer with a budding interest in Politics and International Relations (Part 1: The Invention of Jho Low)

I'll start with the basics. 

1. WHO are authors Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, anyway? 

They are wizards JOURNALISTS.

Wright and Hope worked together at the Wall Street Journal and led the newspaper’s team that exposed the 1Malaysia Development Bhd. (1MDB) scandal, a $6 billion fraud that toppled a government and forced Goldman Sachs to pay the largest ever penalty under U.S. bribery laws.

Their book, the Billion Dollar Whale, which was also the subject of my read for most of this year, is a testament to the scale of what a firm belief in your cause, supplemented with good quality research, journalism and connections can do to unearth the thick GRIME of international scale crime, business and politics.

2. General Reading Experience

This book was one giant encyclopedia of new vocabulary, concepts, places within countries (I've never thought to research), business terminologies, the introduction of financial vessels and mechanisms, and plain, dirty, politics.

With my long work hours and busy schedule, it was not an easy read to tackle in one continuous sweep, often done with long breaks in between, lasting weeks, which made me forget what I read in the previous chapter. That was also why I had to annotate along the way. 

Sometimes in a single page or even a line of the book, when a foreign word or concept is introduced to me, I absolutely have to google it, before I proceed reading the next line, then in doing so, I find myself going down a rabbit hole of information that deviates so far from what I started reading. Then learning that rabbit hole of side info drains the mind. That's another reason it took as long as it did to complete the book.

By the time I got to the final chapter and the epilogue, I felt a huge sense of DEFEAT and nihilism. There were many parts of this book which were stellar in its writing but I will go with this on page 371 :- 

"It's tempting to see this kind of corruption as a disease afflicting poor countried, where kleptocrats live in splendour at the expense of their long-suffering populations. But Jho Low's crime is a modern take on that old story. The money he took, by and large, were not stolen directly from Malaysia's treasury or through padded government contracts. Instead, it was cash that 1MDB borrowed on international financial markets with the help of Goldman Sachs."

So today, I am going to attempt a post-mortem on Part 1 of the book, which mostly elaborates on the key players.

Part 1- The Invention of Jho Low :

Every villain has a backstory. 

Chapter One: Fake Photos

Jho Low came from a family of traders, with his grandfather originating from Thailand with nothing more than a small fortune. But, in 1998, the last two years of his high school, Jho Low had one thing working in his favour. Harrow. (An elite boarding school in England)

Image from https://www.englischeinternate.com/schools/harrow-school

Those from Harrow come from families wealth amassing BILLIONS, which, by the way, is ONE THOUSAND MILLIONS. It was here that he mixed with the children of royal families of Brunei and Kuwait. Then in an attempt to impress them, gloated that he was the "prince of Malaysia" to earn some street credit. In reality, he lived in a modest bungalow in Georgetown. His father, Larry had recently sold his shares in a garment company which were worth roughly $15 million , an astronomical sum at the time. From his small gambits here, it was his first lesson that power and prestige-or at least the appearance of it- opened all kinds of doors. 

Chapter 2 : Asian Great Gatsby 

..is a preview into Jho Low's first signs of lavishness, which depicts his 21st birthday, the kind where a model wearing only a bikini made of lettuce leaves walked across the dance floor and reclined on a bar top-- with sushi lined up ON HER.

Pictured here is Shampoo, Philladelphia's finest at the time- in 2001. 

(I just found out it's not operational anymore)

Low first gained the moniker- 'Asian Great Gatsby' , an ode to how he observed his parties but never partook in them. Then, in 2003, he persuaded his Arab friends to give him a tour of the Middle East, introducing him to the richest families and most influential firms. Then, in Abu Dhabi, Low made a connection that would alter the course of his life. 

Chapter 3: Win Tons of Money

The title is a reference to Low's first company, Wynton Group which he joked stood for "win tons" of money.

Low, now 22, was having lunch with Yousef Al Otaiba , a fresh faced FOREIGN POLICY adviser to the country's sheikhs. This was his window to question on power structures within UAE, which sheikhs controlled the biggest pots of money, etc. In 2003, Oil prices were on an upward trajectory. Otaiba was almost insatiable in wealth despite having it all by his 30s. Otaiba is one of the 12 sons of UAE's former Oil Minister. This meant a privilleged upbringing. He also graced Georgetown where he attended for four years but did not graduate).Then at 26, he became an adviser to the Crown prince, Mohammed Bin Zayed al Nahyam. He was also influential in Washington.  While being well versed in politics, he was a novice at business. This was Low's window to talk up Malaysia as a prospect, and doors for Low in Abu Dhabi opened up. 

* Info grab: 

MUBADALA= Abu Dhabi formed Mubadala in 2002 to diversify its oil dependent economy. The idea was to raise capital from international markets , plowing the money into industries like real estate and semiconductors. It was part of a trend in which rich states were playing a greater role in the global economy. It borrowed from global markets and actively tried to move economy into new directions.

(*Other examples of sovereign wealth funds - Norway's Government Pension Funds) 

This planted a seed in Low's mind. Malaysia had a soverign wealth fund, Khazanah Nasional, but nothing like Mubadala. As he was conjuring a way to capitalise on his father's real estate and teade with his Wharton and Harrow contacts, it dawned on him that the influential backer available to him was the powerful family of Najib Razak. 

*the Law and Order theme song plays

Image from https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2022/08/26/the-story-of-najib-a-victory-a-tragedy/

Chapter Four: We're Going to Need a Bigger Van

In December 2007, Najib Razak as Deputy Prime Minister together with his wife, Rosmah Mansor, were trying to load the car taking them to the airport. But there was a problem. The plethora of luxury boutique shopping (boxes and shopping vans)  could not fit the car taking them to the government jet on standby at the VIP hangar. This was till a VAN needed to be brought in to haul the excess baggage. 

Info grab:

Najib Razak was educated in Malvern College , a British boarding school . hMMnN. Something about these schools. 

Image from https://whichschooladvisor.com/uk/school-review/malvern-college

He also received education from the University of Nottingham. He preferred English to Malay, and watched English shows like 'Yes Minister' , a sitcom about a bumbling government minister. 

Image from https://www.facebook.com/331481044571/posts/10163341449919572/?locale=ms_MY

Rosmah came from more humble origins. Her parents were middle class teachers but she partly grew up on the grounds of the palace of a Malaysian sultan whom adopted this family as his own. This exposed her to wealth. It also created insecurity of not truly belonging with the aristocrats. Before meeting Najib in 1980s, she eyed Brunei royalty as prospects for marriage. Relationships appeared to be transactional. 

Meanwhile, Low was setting up base in KL Petronas Towers, a symbol of prestige,  splurging on interior design and staff. He recruited Seet Li Lin, a Singaporean he befriended at Wharton.  He also reeled in Eric Tan , a key member who later came to be known as 'Fat Eric' .

Image from https://www.sarawakreport.org/2015/02/jho-lows-people-a-life-in-the-day/

Image from https://www.kosmo.com.my/2022/06/14/eric-tan-sekutu-jho-low-diisytihar-bankrap/

To build connections, he would send chocolates and flowers to prospective partners and offered personal favours. He needed a malay protector and that is where Nizam Razak, met through Riza Aziz, stepson of Najib Razak stepped in. 

Chapter Five: A Nice Toy 

Image taken from https://www.newarab.com/news/uae-ambassador-washington-linked-multi-billion-fraud-scandal

Otaiba's business partner, Shaher Awartani (recently becoming UAE's ambassador to the United States) had good news. The pair was about to make $10 million through a deal Low set up in Malaysia. The chapter is titled based on Awartani's suggestion that they should buy themselves a "nice toy", i.e a  Ferari after what could only be described as a 'transfer from Jho'. 

Shaher Awartani came into the picture from a time when Jho Low was keen on leveraging his connections, where he set up a British Virgin Islands entity known as 'Abu Dhabi Kuwait Malaysia Investment Company' and gave free shares to Otaiba and minor aristocrats from Kuwait & Malaysia. This created an illusion of prominent key players backing the company. This eased the loans of tens of millions. He used this to acquire construction companies, and a subsidiary of Wynton took loans to finance minority stakes in the Iskandar land project alongside Mubadala. 

Low also utilised offshore accounts. An 'offshore' designation refers to jurisdictions whose financial systems are much larger than their domestic economies; in other words, the banking system exists purely for non-residents to stash cash, compared to other banks which serve local citizens and companies.

Low proceeded to set up ADIA Investment Corporation and KIA Investment Corporation--which gave the illusion of being related to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) , two of the most famous wealth funds in the world. The chapter goes on to depict the rich but naive Chief Minister Taib (One of Malaysia's richest individuals, dabbling in logging and oil palm plantations of Borneo Island was his next victim.) 

Image taken from 
https://www.sarawakreport.org/2012/09/usd15-billion-taib-is-the-richest-man-in-malaysia/

Taib had heard of Low who was touting Mubadala's ambitions to invest more widely and Taib was keen to build palm oil refineries and other energy projects in Sarawak. Low persuaded Taib to buy the construction companies and Iskandar land. A few months later, Wynton, Low's company completed the sale of its stake in Iskandar Land to UBG, a holding company overseen by Taib. in return for cash and shares. It made him th largest shareholder for UBG-- and he beasted of his $110million profit for Wynton by selling to Taib at a significant markup. 

Jho Low traded his E-series Mercedes for a Black Ferarri, his new toy. But this displeased his arab counterparts who felt sidelined and that they were only being "throwed a bone" when it was their name that resulted in the profits in the first place. 

This was how Jho Low first developed a deal making reputation. He was no longer a nobody but an investor with a track record. This meant business meetings and society gatherings at Kuala Lumpur's elite. It was THIS NAME BUIDING that led him to an ambitious banker at Wall Street. You guessed it.

Tim Leissner.

Chapter 6: Doctor Leissner , I Presume

Hank Paulson of Goldman Sachs steered towards China, where it made money advising the communist government on how to privatize companies and become one of the 1st foreign banks to set up a local securities joint venture. 

*Definition: The term "securities" includes investments such as stocks, bonds, notes, debentures, oil and gas contracts, etc

China's potential was looking good. Malaysian economy which supplied China with raw materials were registering their own solid economic expansions of more than 5% annually. This invited some sort of a 'look east' policy. 

(TL:DR: A policy set up by Mahathir in 1982 to trade more with Japan /South Korea versus British brands)

In early 2009, thirty nine year old German, Tim Leissner who was a rising star at Goldman in Asia was tasked to discuss with Sultan of Terengganu, and at the time, Agong, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin. Leissner spent a decade building connections in Malaysia. One of those connections led to Jho Low,  (through his friend Roger Ng, another investment banker in Goldman) who brokered this meeting. Now it was time for the groundwork was to take fruit. 

      

Top Picture taken from https://www.hmetro.com.my/global/amerika-utara/2022/02/811471/skandal-1mdb-leissner-mengaku-tamak;
Bottom picture taken from https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2022/11/12/roger-ng-sues-ex-goldman-boss-leissner-for-us130mil/

Low informed Leissner of the sultan's plans to set up an investment fund to manage his state's oil and gas wealth. By the end of the brokered meeting, Goldman clinched a contract to advise on the formation of a new fund which was to be known as the Terengganu Investment Authority for a fee of $300,000.00.

(This was considered a trivial sum by Wall Street standards!)

Backstory on Leissner-- he comes from MONEY. He's he middle of three brothers. His dad was a senior executive at Volkswagen. He received exclusive training camps in Europe and United States. As a 17 year old he spent a year as an exchange student in Millbrook School in upstate New York. This was his first taste of being abroad.

Something about these SCHOOLS man! 
Image from https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/A-new-era-of-Look-East-would-boost-both-Japan-and-Malaysia

After college in Germany, he headed to the States, in the University of Hartford in Connecticut for an MBA. Upon marrying a French-iranian he met there, he got his first job as an associate in J.P Morgan. While working there, he obtained a doctorate in business administration from the University of Somerset. (one of those colleges known for selling degrees to those looking to give their credentials a facelift)His interest in Asia stemmed from work done in Indonesia. By 1997 his marriage was falling apart and by then he moved to Hong Kong to work a new job with Lehman Brothers.

Goldman colleagues noticed his flair for making clients feel like they had a deep, personal connection with him. He was a relationship bankker, skilled at reeling important executives through magnetism than structure. He's the kind of guy who would sit next to clients in a boardroom than across it. 

*Info dump:

Traditional sovereign wealth funds invest oil profits and Low honed in on Terengganu, which was rich in offshore oil and gas fields. 

Low was ambitious of putting together a sovereign wealth fund in Malaysia. But he needed a source of initial funds. (He got acquainted with Sultan Mizan's sister who sat on board of the construction companies.)

This was why he needed the involvement of Goldman and Leissner. Within months of meeting with the sultan, Low was addressing bankers informally as "Bro", suggesting ways to depict the fund in media. HOWEVER, IN MAY 2009, the Sultan got cold feet. Low wanted to rush the deal through but had no clear investment plan. There wasn't even a full management team in place. Sultan Mizan was cautious of not gambling away the state's oil wealth. (Good on him!) 

Low, trying to push this deal through to the Sultan with no real plan:-

Low was close to emulating the fund manager he watched in the Middle East up close, but he was back to square one with Sultan Mizan ordering the funds to be shuttered. 

Me, after reading that he might have saved his state from possible embezzlement:-

The stars must have aligned for Low and he received his big break in the form of Najib Razak, who needed a pot of money to help restore his party's popularity and who recently became the Prime Minister in April 2009. Low moved fast to save his stillborn investment fund.

Chapter 7: Saudi "Royalty" (The First Heist)

This chapter refers to the fake royalty , one Tarek Obaid being the partner to the company PetroSaudi International which pioneered a joint venture plan with 1MDB (we will get to the backstory on its formation in this chapter). Being Chief Executive of Petrosaudi, allowed the bankers in Geneva, its base, to call him "Sheikh", a title normally reserved for royals or religious clerics, even though he was a commoner. 

Prior to reading this chapter, I would have had no reason to imagine what an 'Alfa Nero' was. But this is where Prime Minister Najib was cruisin' , off the coast of Monaco in the French Riviera with his royal highness, Prince Turki bin Abdullah, its owner.

Image of Prince Turki bin Abdullah taken from https://saudileaks.org/en/turki/

(Slight digression from the main topic: I recently learned that Monaco is its own country neighboring Nice, France, it is the second smallest country to the Vatican, it's one of the wealthiest countries--with the number of millionaires and billionaires residing in Monaco on the rise, it's a magnet for hedonists, has the most expensive real estate in the world, has a very low crime rate, hosts the Formula One Grand Prix)

In the first few weeks of new administration, Low helped Najib link up with the middle east. This was in line with his ambitions to transform Malaysia to a developed nation status. For this, he needed ARAB MONEY. 

 In Abu Dhabi, after dinner with the crown Prince in Emirates Palace, Najib announced the formation of a new Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, to be called 1 MALAYSIA DEVELOPMENT BERHAD(1MDB). It was simply the Terengganu Investment Authority which had raised $1.4 billion in Islamic bonds .

The prince had an interest to protect too, with PetroSaudi International, an international oil exploration firm would win rights in foreign countries keen to acquaint with Saudi Arabia. But the company's business was negligible. 

Info Dump :- What is an Islamic bond?

The idea is that since interest is forbidden in Islamic law, the issuer sells an investor group a certificate, then uses the proceeds to purchase an asset that the investor group has direct partial ownership interest in. The issuer must also make a contractual promise to buy back the bond at a future date at par value. 

Low cashed in on connections with Otaiba to arrange the meeting with the crown prince and to obtain a pledge for them to invest in Malaysian projects. 

What was 1MDB's original purpose?

1MDB was intended to invest in green energy and tourism to create high-quality jobs for Malaysians. The fund, as represented by Low, would take money from Middle East and borrow from global markets. The SECONDARY purpose was of course as a vessel for political financing. Profits from here could fill a war chest that could be used to pay off political supporters and voters! The fund's charitable arm was intended to award scholarships and build affordable housing.

ON THE BOAT, Prince Turki and Najib began discussing the possibility of Petrosaudi partnering with the new 1MDB fund. Days after the meeting on the boat, Prince Turki wrote to Najib with official Saudi government letterhead, promising a prospect of a joint venture, with 1MDB pumping in $1 billion in cash, and Petro Saudi would put its oil assets (rights to develop fields in Turkmenistan and Argentina).

Chapter 8 : Hitting a Gold Mine 

This chapter introduces Patrick Mahony. A British banker who worked for Ashmore. He was director of investments at Petro Saudi. After the meeting in the yacht, Najib agreed to the outline of the deal presented by Obaid, so Mahony and Low were in the Mandarin Oriental in Columbus Circle to put the plan in motion. 

Described as handsome,  talented and ambitious, and having a reputation for being smart but cold. As news articles now report it, the now ex JV partner and Chief investment officer is alleged to have received a mysterious $33million fee in October 2009.  :- Image taken from https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2016/jul/28/patrick-mahony-calls-xavier-justos-wife-laura-audio

He communicated with Obaid, (whom he acquainted with in the school they attended together in Geneva) in a mixture of English and French. He stumbled across Jho Low who was promising to bring $1 billion in sovereign money into a deal. With that, this deal was made a priority.

Although the initial plan was for oil exploration, Low sensed an opportunity for financial killing. Najib held the highest position as CHAIRMAN of the Board of advisors with power to both appoint and veto decisions. The fund appointed Shahrol Halmi as Chief Executive , Casey Tang as finance director, and Jasmine Loo as legal counsel. The fund had given Low a freehand to sprinkle his associates, but he himself did not hold any prominent position. 

Halmi was a former consultant at Accenture Malaysia. He was thrust into the limelight after a damning report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) blamed him for the mismanagement at 1MDB.
- Image obtained from https://theedgemalaysia.com/article/cover-story-who-shahrol

Image taken from https://www.thevibes.com/articles/news/72931/govt-seeks-to-seize-car-properties-cash-from-ex-1mdb-executive-director

*Re Casey Tang:- As recent as May 2023, The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said it had succeeded in repatriating an individual involved in 1MDB and SRC International investigations through cooperation with international law enforcement agencies after being 'on the run' since 2018.

*Re Jasmine Loo - As recent as September 2023 it was reported that Former 1MDB lawyer Jasmine Loo has led police to identify assets worth over RM93.2 million that were purchased using 1MDB funds (Deputy Inspector-General of Police Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay) after she surrendered herself to Malaysian authorities on July 7th, 2023. 

Coming back to the setting up of 1MDB, days after the Mandarin Oriental meeting, Jho Low linked Obaid, Patrick Mahony and Seet Li Lin in Geneva for breakfast near the lake at the center of the city.

Geneva had been a cesspool of fugitives and more recently, global financiers:-

Image taken from https://www.worldatlas.com/lakes/lake-geneva-switzerland.html

The purpose of the meeting was for all the key players to be able to communicate directly without cc-ing Low for governance purposes. He also instructed his inner circle to destroy emails after reading them. After the breakfast, Mahony emailed PetroSaudi's bank BSI to kickstart a business account for the new entity. Mahony explained that the new venture would be receiving $1 billion from a Malaysian fund and Low would be taking a cut as a fee for brokering the deal. 

However, the BSI banker wrote an email turning down the seemingly dodgy arrangement, with special emphasis on the involvement of Jho Low.

The BSI Banker's alarm bells ringing (is ALL OF US who follow this story):-

But while BSI closed their doors, J.P Morgan welcomed them in , asking minimal questions on why a sovereign wealth fund needed a relationship with a Swiss private bank. In order to make the PetroSaudi and 1MDB JV legit, a former senior US State Department analyst at Lehman Brothers, Edward Morse was consulted to valuate PetroSaudi's assets before the $1 billion could be sent over. 

Pictured is Edward Morse, image taken from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-09/citi-oil-veteran-says-20s-likely-on-unique-demand-supply-shock

Mahony needed a valuation of $2.5 billion for PetroSaudi. Within two days, he was done with his report, a technical analysis of reserves and prices based on numbers provided by PetroSaudi. His final figure sat at 3.6 billion.He left with $100,000.00 for the work.

In other words, Edward Morse basically did this:-

On September 26th 2009, 1MDB's newly constituted board met in KL to approve the initial $1 billion transfer from the fund to the Swiss Account set up for the Joint Venture. A multi-million dollar deal had crystalised from a span of a month from a meeting on a yacht. 

Such a time frame to complete due diligence, asset valuations, and other legal checks was unheard of. Such deals would normally take a YEAR to conclude.

Chapter 9: "I Feel the Earth Move"

The title of this chapter derives from Seet Li Lin, (Low's Wharton contact) who posted on Facebook:- 

"i feel the earth move..."

..on the same day that they managed to commit, basically, a daylight robbery of $700 MILLION.

---

Jacqueline Ho in KL Court as the 30th prosecution witness in the 1MDB trial  is the best image I could find on the net unfortunately - Image from https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2022/06/21/deutsche-bank-pressed-to-speed-up-1mdbs-us1b-money-transfer-as-pm-najib-would-be-issuing-press-statement-ex-banker-tells-court/13416

Jacqueline Ho, an employee with Deutsche Bank in Malaysia was the relationship manager for 1MDB, and Casey Tang, the funds' executive director was on the phone pressuring her to make payments out of the country. The problem?

The Deutsch Compliance Department had serious doubts:-

'Why wasn't $1 billion flowing into the joint venture with Petro Saudi as agreed by 1MDB Board? How come Casey was asking for $700 million (Jho Low's commission) to be put into an unnamed account with RBS Coutts in Zurich?'

Casey tried to pass the unknown account off as being owned by Petro Saudi. Jacqueline's supervisor dialed Bank Negara Malaysia to check if it was okay to proceed with the enormous transaction. Bank Negara green-lighted it, so long as the money was going into the joint venture.

Then, Deutsche sent two wires around 3 pm. One was $300 million to the joint venture's new account at J.P Morgan (Suisse) and another , $700 million to the (now not so) mysterious account at Coutts in Zurich.

Now, bear in mind the money was travelling in dollars. Pursuant to American anti-money-laundering laws, correspondent banks are obliged to check its source and use. But with TRILLIONS of dollars moving in and out daily, the mechanism is almost superficial. J.P Morgan let the money through. 

Two days later, Coutts' regulatory risk department in Zurich sent an email to 1MDB, confused by Deutsche Bank's omission of the full name of the beneficiary of $700 million transfer as was required. Shahrol Halmi covered it up by saying it was owned by a Seychelles Company called Good Star Ltd, and represented that it is 100% owned by PetroSaudi International Ltd. 

In reality it was a bearer sharer company, (the kind made illegal in many jurisdictions) and its single share was held by ......

Any guesses for who Good Star Ltd really belongs to? 

Yes, Jho Low. And yes, $700 million. 

Coutts bankers were not buying this story. So Casey Tang and Josephine Ho had to take a trip to Zurich to 'damage control' . But this time, the narrative was that 1MDB decided to put in $700 million into the recipient of these monies, Good Star, an investment management company. 

Why would a Malaysian state fund dump that BIG amount of money into a Seychelles fund management company? 

Unfortunately, (for Malaysians) , whatever the Coutts bankers' concerns were, the bank pushed the transfer through. The head of the table divided the shares among the group, with Obaid receiving $85 million, and a further $68 million. Obaid then paid $33 million to Patrick Mahony , then sent $77 million of that amount to Prince Turki. 

This was Low's first major heist . Even after his partners received their cut, Jho Low still had sole control over hundreds of millions of dollars. This catapulted him to see what could be in store for him on an international scale, with United States being the next mission. 

------

So that concludes the First Part (out of the Five available) of this book. These are the key players which have all systemically caused a great deal of damage to our nation. 

In the course of making this post, I also realised that I don't have the energy to do this for the remaining chapters. In all honesty, I am so grateful that all this FILTH was eventually uncovered and the rightful parties have been prosecuted for it. My hope is that one day Jho Low is brought to face the judicial  consequences of his actions. 

A documentary titled Man on the Run is going to be released on this, I am definitely watching it ! 

(You can watch the trailer here!)

Hope that this was insightful !