Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur

My Asian assignment for The D&O Diary continued last week with a stop in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital and largest city. Kuala Lumpur is a modern and dynamic city that features an iconic skyline, bustling streets, and a renowned food scene. It was a return visit for me to this endlessly fascinating place.

The primary purpose for my Kuala Lumpur visit was to participate as a speaker and panelist at the Financial Lines Forum, the first of its type in Malaysia, which was sponsored and hosted by the Chan Ban Eng & Co law firm and its Managing Director, JJ Chan. The event, which was suprisingly well-attended, was first-class in every way. It is particularly noteworthy that the Chan Ban Eng law firm presented the event on a pro bono basis, without charging an admission fee or accepting cash sponsorships, for which the firm deserves both recognition and praise.

The event was presented in collaboration with the Universiti Malaya and was attended by a number of public officials and other luminaries, including Malyasia’s attorney general, Tan Sri Dato’ Mohd Dusuki bin Mokhtar, who delived the keynote address; Tan Sri Datuk Zainun Ali, Former Judge of the Federal Court of Malaysia, who acted as the event’s Chairperson, and who delivered the opening address; and Tan Sri Dato’ Abdul Rashid bin Hussain, Founder of the RHB Group and Chairman of the Lembaba Tabund Haji, who also provided a special address.

In light of the event’s large audience and distinguished guests, I was particlarly honored to deliver the event’s closing address.
I was also honored to participate in this distinguished panel, on the topic of “D&O Liability in Practice,” and which featured, from left to right, Phoebe Ng, of the Chan Ban Eng law firm, who moderated the panel; me; Muzzaffar Othman, COO of Permodalan Nasional Berhad; Aiza Azreen Binti Ahmad, Independent Non-Executive Director of Sapura Resources Berhad; Shalini Pavithran, CEO of the Singapore College of Insurance; and Simon Moi, Chief Underwriting Officer of Newline Asia.
The memorialization of the Financial Lines Forum’s Founding Statement, as signed by JJ Chan, Tan Sri Zainun, and myself, and witnessed by the Attorney General Datuk Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar. I participated in this event as International Advisor to the Financial Lines Forum.
The turnout for this event was really remarkable — with over 350 attendees, the conference room was packed. I was honored to be able to meet some of the many guests, including Susila Menon and Ramesh, both of QBE; Tan Su Yin of Hannover Re; and Uma Harikrishnaa of MSIG Insurance.
My congratulations to JJ Chan and his colleagues at the Chan Ban Eng law firm, pictured here with Tan Sri Zainun, for organizing this excellent event for the Malaysian insurance and legal community. From left to right in this picture: Phoebe Ng; Fazleeza Azli; JJ Chan; Tan Sri Zainum; me; and Jael Ho.

It is a mark of the success of the Financial Lines Forum event that it was widely covered in the local press, including, for example, coverage in Free Malaysia Today (here) of Abdul Rashid Hussain’s speech, as well as coverage in The Star of the AG’s speech (here). Indeed, the Attorney General himself posted an item on Facebook about the event, here.

Although our visit to Kuala Lumpur was all too brief, we did have a little chance to look around and see the city. It is such a fascinating place. One of the city’s most indispensible sites to see is its vibrant and colorful food street, Jalan Alor. The street is filled with brightly lit restaurants, rows of hawker stalls, tightly packed tables, and crowds of visitors eyeing the offerings.

Walking along Jalan Alor is intense sensory experience. The bright lights, aromatic smells, and swirls of motion and sound make the scene enjoyably chaotic.
The varieties of food on offer are also both impressive and astonishing. I know I sampled several different foods for the first time during our visit.
A crab food dinner at a relatively new restaurant that, mercifully, was air conditioned. Enjoying food on Jalan Alor is more than just a meal, it is an experience.
Kuala Lumpur is also rightly famous for its modern skyline, with bristles with tall buildings. This picture, as well as the one at the top of the post, depicts the famous Petronas Towers, viewed from our hotel window. The Petronas Towers were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004. (The towers now rank 20th.) You will note the murky air in the picture. The air quality in Kuala Lumpur was poor during our visit, due to raging wildfires in Indonesia. On our final day in KL the air quality index was over 200, in the range considered “very unhealthy,” which unfortunately made walking around less than entirely pleasant, particularly in the heat and humidity.
Here’s another of Kuala Lumpur’s famous tall buildings, the Merdeka 118 (also known as the Merdeka Maybank building), seen at night. The building, which is 118 stories, is now the second tallest in the world, after only the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
We did have the opportunity to see some of the city’s more famous historic sites, including this recently restored British colonial era building, the Sultan Abdul Samad building. The building is still gleaming after its refurbishment, which was completed in February 2026.

Here is the Masjid Jamek, the mosque located at the confluence of the Klang and Gombak Rivers. The river junction gives the city its name — “Kuala Lumpur” means “muddy confluence” in Malay.
Inside the Petaling Street Market, the bustling commercial center of Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown district, which is located just a few blocks away from the Masjid Jamek.
A quiet, atmospheric side street in Chinatown.
This is the Seri Negara mansion, on a hilltop in the Perdana Botanical Gardens. The building appeared in the movie “Crazy Rich Asians” as Tyersall Park, the grand ancestral estate of Nick Young’s wealthy family (set in Singapore). Courtesy of our host and friend, JJ Chan, my wife and I had a lovely evening dinner at the beautiful Serai House restaurant located inside the mansion.
I want to end this post with a thank you note to JJ and his colleagues, Phoebe Ng and Jael Ho, for being such good hosts while my wife and I were in Malaysia. All three of them, together with their colleague Fazlizza Azli, were so generous and so hospitable to us, and made such thoughtful and considerate arrangements for us throughout our visit. I would also like to thank my good friend JJ Chan for inviting me to Malaysia in the first place, and for allowing me to be a part of the excellent inaugural Financial Lines Forum. Most important of all, I am grateful to JJ and his colleagues for their friendship. I enjoyed the chance to visit with them, and I look forward to seeing them again soon.