It was widely reported on March 29 that a Kuwaiti court had sentenced Jho Low to 10 years of hard labour for his role in the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.

He was sentenced in absentia alongside a Kuwaiti sheikh and three other accomplices. The Kuwaiti dignitary was identified as Sheikh Sabah Jaber Mubarak al-Sabah, the son of a former Kuwaiti Prime Minister.

That would make two sons of former Prime Ministers to be convicted of the 1MDB-related crimes. The other was Mohd Najib Abdul Razak.

But Mohd Najib still tops the chart. He was not only the son of a former Prime Minister but was himself a Prime Minister.

The conviction of Jho Low or officially Low Taek Jho, though in absentia, is significant. It shows that he’s not immune to prosecution.

But here in Malaysia, it appears that putting him on trial like the Kuwaiti had done seems not to be a priority. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, for instance, was happier giving assistance to the Kuwaiti authorities to convict him than to put him on trial here in Malaysia.

It appears to me that the Malay-dominated bureaucracy and law-enforcement are reticent about acting against him.

Back in 2019, I had published an article in my social media platforms saying that Jho Low’s 1MDB scam epitomised an extremely successful exploitation of the Malay psyche.

I described him as an evil genius. Otherwise how do we explain his ability to ingratiate himself with a Malay Sultan at the age of 28 and soon after, the Prime Minister and his influential wife.

I speculated that it could have been planned by the Low family from the very  beginning to mould him into be an international wheeler-dealer by enrolling him in elite educational institutions like the Harrow College in the United Kingdom, and the Wharton Business School in the USA.

There he would meet boys of pedigree or who were wealthy enough to “buy” one. The English public schools are where young gentlemen are groomed and the rich lads made gentlemen.

That boys’ school experience must have whetted his appetite for class and exclusivity. What he lacked by way of pedigree could be made up by way of money – lots and lots of it.

And what better place to start that quest than among the ambitious, savvy and ruthless international undergraduates of Wharton?

He would also have acknowledged that back home, where the Malays control politics and the Chinese helm the economy, certain things are held dear.

He would have known, for instance, that the vast majority of the Malays revered their rulers and held the Arab in high esteem. He knew with a ruler’s help he could easily get the politicians and the bureaucrats to treat him favorably.

He also knew that the combination of the Malay political power and the Arab money would put him into instant orbit. The elite Malays and Arabs may be Muslims but many lead a hedonistic life in Europe and America. He went on develop relationship with them.

And he was spot on. The combination of Malay royalty, the politicians and the bureaucrats to get with the Arab Sheikhs, he turned himself into the living, breathing wolf of Wall Street.

He portrayed himself as an international man of mystery, a ladies’ man and wheeler dealer, showering his contacts with money, expensive gifts, grand holidays and even grander abode.

He knew that behind every powerful, ambitious and greedy man is an even more powerful, ambitious and greedier woman.

Thus, with the help of several such men and women, he became the surrogate father to the Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) and later the 1MDB.

In a matter of a few years he amassed for himself, his Malaysian, Arab and American collaborators, their wives, children and cronies, billions of US dollars in cash, jeweleries, landed properties, handbags, wrist watchers and paintings.

He hobnobbed with Hollywood actors and movie makers. He installed Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz, the stepson of then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri I Mappadulung Daeng Mattimung Karaeng Sandrobone Sultan Abdul Jalil Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, as an instant movie mogul.

Riza is one of two children of Rosmah Mansor from her previous marriage.

While turning dreams into movies the Hollywood way, Jho Low also turned movie plots into reality in order to build a legacy and perpetuate his crave for wealth and power.

He made forays into the political arena by organising and funding the Barisan Nasional (BN) campaign during the 2013 General Elections especially in his home state Penang.

It was during that time that he became visible and known to the political elite with his campaign extravaganza that featured Najib and the then South Korean singing sensation Psy.

Away from the screaming teenagers, he coaxed the 1MDB into buying lands in Penang at prices way above the market. He seemed to believe that with money he could topple the DAP-led state government and have Penang to himself. He would want to do better than his businessman father, (Tan Sri) Larry Loh Hock Peng.

But his ambition was blown to smithereens when the DAP demolished the BN in Penang and Najib did worst in his maiden GE than Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in 2008.

That was the turning point in the opposition against Najib and the BN that would see them defeated five years later in 2018.

His get-rich-quick scheme started to unravel and his favour-buying in the US became the subject of investigations by the US Department of Justice (DoJ).

He and his associates, including the rapper Prakazrel “Pras” Michael were accused of illegally funding the Obama re-election campaign – the reward of which could have included the infamous Najib-Obama Hawaiian golf game at the height of Malaysia’s big floods in 2016.

He was also linked to the Republican donor, Elliot Broidy. Their handiwork was believed to have led to Najib’s unofficial visit to the White House in 2017 to ingratiate himself with Donald Trump.

The curtain had fallen and Mohd Najib had been dispatched to the Kajang Prison for 12 years.

Jho Low, as a phenomenal dealmaker and schemer, had been alleged by United States and Malaysia with stealing US$4.5 billion (about RM20.25 billion at today’s exchange rate) in 1MDB money.

From the historical point of view, an unscrupulous Chinese using the Malay ruling elite to enrich himself isn’t an oddity.

Had Jho Low not been greedy and indiscreet, his successful exploitation of the Malay psyche could have taken him far as had been shown by his predecessors.

For the Malays though, many didn’t know that they had been had. For a few ringgit of cash, they were willing to be led up the garden path by their “bossku” in the name of “agama, bangsa dan negara”.