‘Jho please come home’ - satirical appeal launched for Low to return this CNY

As the authorities continue in their quest to nab Jho Low, a heartfelt albeit satirical appeal has been launched to encourage the fugitive financier to come home this Chinese New Year.

Presented as a "mockumentary" entitled “Time To Come Home”, it features notable local personalities posing as family, friends, former staff and even an ex-girlfriend of one "Jho", in an apparent reference to Low.

In it, they say they miss him as well as the star-studded parties he used to hold and the money, diamonds and luxury cars he used to shower them with.

In one scene, his onscreen brother sits inside a bathtub with RM100 notes draped over him as he makes a tearful apology for allowing Low’s “boat” - a reference to superyacht The Equanimity - to be confiscated.

Aside from the video, an accompanying website "Jho Please Come Home" has been created for the public to submit their own Chinese New Year-themed appeals for him to return to Malaysia.

One message from “Your Adviser” reads: “Jho, can I advise you something?! Please come home.”

Hope Low will be touched and return

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is on trial for misappropriating millions, has blamed Low for orchestrating the entire 1MDB scandal.

Low, whose full name is Low Taek Jho, has denied being the mastermind and characterised all charges against him as “political persecution”.

He remains on the run as he claims he would be denied a fair trial in Malaysia.

This has led to speculation that he could be in either China, Cyprus, the Caribbean or the Middle East.

When contacted, the video’s director and producer Derrik Yaw said the clip was intended as a “heartfelt” approach to convince Low to come home.

“Everyone wants him back for certain reasons so we thought that we should change our strategy when asking someone to come home.

“Rather than nagging them every year [...] why don't we use a soft approach this time? So we decided maybe we should make a really heartfelt (video using) begging, pity, a sympathy kind of approach.

“And hopefully, he will be touched and come home,” he told Malaysiakini.

The website, meanwhile, was created as a fun way for the public to offer their messages, he added.

Published on YouTube channel “Demo TV”, the video was a collaboration between Yaw’s production house Graph Studio and advertising agency Bolt KL. Mo Nazmi from the latter wrote the script.

Among those featured in the video are Phoon Chi Ho, Ruby Ooi, Jin Joe, Steven Bones, Iedil Dzuhrie Alaudin, Jenn Chia, Dan Khoo, Ernest Ng, Joshua Desmond, Prakash Daniel and Renny Tan.

 - Mkini