The Wolf of Jalan Raja: Malaysia's 1MDB Scandal, 2015
It is July 2015. Billions of dollars have been siphoned from 1MDB, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, through a plethora of offshore accounts, shell companies, and complicit institutions. What was meant to be an initiative to bring Malaysia to the forefront of the world stage has instead brought The Wolf of Wall Street and luxury yachts, unraveling the country into a crisis of government legitimacy, trust, capability, and credibility, fueled by the tides of public outrage and global scrutiny. At the center of this storm is Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose administration is accused of enabling, concealing, and profiting from the misappropriation of funds.
Each delegate within the committee shall take on the roles of law enforcement, civil servants, politicians, and others to form the Special Task Force of Malaysia’s central bank, tasked with investigating the extent of malfeasance that has occurred and recovering funds taken from the public. However, delegates must balance their civic duty to answer to the Malaysian people with the wrath of Najib, who threatens the existence of the task force and everyone who is part of it. As you grapple with this intricate balance of power, the perpetrators of this scandal are slipping away…
Within this committee, delegates will face the chaos and instability of political shocks and economic threats that could bring the entire nation down with one wrong move. Will you restore trust and civility in Malaysia by seeking justice and recouping stolen money, or will you live, laugh, and launder yourself out of responsibility? It is up to you to decide what it means for Malaysia to be “Truly Asia,” per its infamous tourism campaign.
Samuel Yao
chair
Samuel (or 药释, literally “medicine release”) is a rising second-year majoring in Economics and Computational and Applied Mathematics. Born in Guangzhou, China, he has spent his formative years in Singapore before moving north to Beijing for middle and high school (where he, at least for now, resides permanently). Prior to ChoMUN XXX, he was an assistant chair for the Castilian War of Succession at ChoMUN XXIX and El Principat de Catalunya at MUNUC 38, and will be a Chair for the Arctic Council in MUNUC 39, UChicago’s high school conference.
Outside of the MUNiverse, you can find Samuel tutoring children via the Neighborhood Schools Program, working as a sound designer/technician in UChicago’s student films and watching the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on a regular basis to appease his former background as a cellist. If he has enough sleep, you may also see him refereeing V5RC Robotics competitions, photographing Chicago with his Sony a7cii, watching Jet Lag: The Game (and playing the home game throughout the year), and contributing randomly (and extremely spontaneously) to Wikipedia whenever he feels like procrastinating on a math PSET.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out via email: yaos@uchicago.edu.
Genis Kim
crisis director
Genis is a rising third year at the college, majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in molecular engineering. She was born in Seoul, Korea, but lived the majority of her life in Shanghai, China, until she moved to Singapore to spend her high school years and graduated there, a true third culture kid. In MUN, she has previously been positioned in back room and front room AC for Terror in Terranova ChoMUN XXIX and chair for Mayhem in Madagascar MUNUC XXXIX.
Outside of MUN, Genis likes to try out many new things, but mostly spends time trying not to burn another sweater with acid in her research lab, and is also part of the Alt protein group and Genehackers. You may also occasionally find her eating 20 donuts in 5 minutes or getting sprayed by shaving cream as a participant of UChicago Survivor, which she swears she will never do again, but somehow back in the game. She also likes to work out or bake when she isn’t doing something abnormal, or playing some Sudoku to pass time. Genis is really excited to be a crisis director for ChoMUN XXX and see the creativity of delegates through the frontroom and backroom!
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out via email: eunseok@uchicago.edu.
Emily Kim
crisis director
Emily is a rising third year at the college, majoring in Public Policy and East Asian Languages & Civilizations. She is from Troy, Michigan, and has been participating in MUN since high school. Emily has previously served as an assistant chair for the UNSC Hybrid committee at MUNUC 38 and co-chaired the Regional Bodies EU committee at MUNUC 39. Additionally, she was an assistant chair for the Ad Hoc Committee of the Secretary-General for ChoMUN XXIX. Outside of MUN, you can find her grading assignments as a Language Assistant for Korean and taking pictures on her Canon as a Social Media Manager for the Phoenix Sustainability Initiative (PSI). She also enjoys baking, taking long walks with her two dogs, Joy and Peanut, and ranking exquisite restaurants on Beli. She is interested in environmental policy and international relations, and she plans to go to law school after her four years at UChicago. She looks forward to ChoMUN XXX and seeing the committee come to Life!
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out via email: emilyk54@uchicago.edu.
Secretariat oversight:
khushi bora, under-secretary-general