Meeting Sir Peter Mooney

Dato' Dr Sir Peter Mooney and me

Yesterday, I had the honour of meeting and having lunch with Dato’ Dr Sir Peter Mooney. My father and I were very keen on meeting Sir Peter, especially after reading his book, “A Servant of Sarawak: Reminiscences of a Crown Counsel in 1950s Borneo”, a fascinating book about Sir Peter’s journey and life in Borneo. I will share a little more about the book later. My good friend, Catherine Eu (former Executive Director of the Bar Council) put me in touch with Sir Peter and we set a date for lunch at the Chinese Restaurant located at the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur.

Sir Peter Mooney autographing his book

Now, you may be curious to know who exactly is this person, Sir Peter Mooney? Dato’ Dr Sir Peter Mooney is an illustrious lawyer being the co-founder of Skrine, one of Malaysia’s leading law firms and had served as the Attorney General of Sarawak in the 1950s. Sir Peter Mooney hailed from Ireland but was educated largely in Scotland. Being a brilliant student, he literally sailed through his education on scholarships  based on merit. Sir Peter Mooney had his first taste of Far East when he fought in one of the toughest battle in World War II in Burma. Sir Peter Mooney fought with the British Fourteenth Army under the command of General Sir William Slim (who incidentally became the Governor-General of Australia in 1953). After the war, Sir Peter Mooney continued his education and subsequently was called to the Scottish Bar. Sir Peter Mooney practised law for a short while in Scotland until he was appointed as a Crown Counsel for Sarawak by the Secretary of State for the Colonies in the United Kingdom. Being a linguist, Sir Peter Mooney managed to pick up the local languages such as Malay, Iban and Mandarin rather quickly. Sir Peter Mooney was subsequently appointed as the Attorney General of Sarawak and had faced many legendary opponents (Defense Counsels) such as David Marshall and Lee Kuan Yew. Many of the notable names which we frequently come across in history books such as Sir Malcolm MacDonald and Sir Anthony Abell were people that Sir Peter had worked with and were colleagues of Sir Peter.

Sir Peter's book - a good read

I found Sir Peter Mooney’s book, “A Servant of Sarawak: Reminiscences of a Crown Counsel in 1950s Borneo” a rather good read. The author’s style of relating his experiences and the thorough and vivid description of how the lifestyle of the people in Borneo at that time gives you a feel of the 1950s in “wild Borneo”. The readers could actually feel and see the things that Sir Peter had gone through in those years (perhaps not the same experiences he had but you get an idea). The author shared some interesting cases which he handled and made it even more interesting by adding some anecdotes here and there. The book is written in a simple style and easy to understand. This book is highly recommended for those who wants to know about the colonial times.

Dato' Manan listening attentively to Sir Peter's experiences in Borneo

With Datuk Mahadev Shankar (former Court of Appeal Judge)

The lunch was marvelous. I ordered a number of dishes consisting mainly of vegetables as Sir Peter is more keen on vegetables compared to meat. Joining us for lunch was my dad, Dato’ Abdul Manan Othman (former Cabinet Minister), Catherine Eu (former Executive Director of Bar Council)  and Puan Hendon Mohamed (former President of the Malaysian Bar). I have also invited Lim Chee Wee (current President of the Malaysian Bar) but he sent his apologies. During lunch, we bumped into Datuk Mahadev Shankar (former Court of Appeal Judge), we shared some jokes and had a few laughs and he had to go on his way to another function.

Sir Peter Mooney with a copy of my book

I brought along a copy of Sir Peter’s book and requested for his autograph which he obliged. After that, I presented Sir Peter an autographed copy of “Mediation Skills and Techniques” and a few memorabilia. Sir Peter Mooney is a great man and I must say that it is indeed an honour and privilege to meet you, Sir Peter (if you are reading this post) and hope to catch up with you again!

"Mediation Skills and Techniques" book launch - The Video

If you missed the "Mediation Skills and Techniques" book launch on 14th May 2012. You 

can watch it here. It is only 5 minutes long. Enjoy! Please leave your comment(s). Thanks.

The Launching of “Mediation Skills and Techniques”

The book launch held on 14^th May 2012 was a great success. We had about a hundred people who attended the launch. Mediation Skills and Techniques became a best seller on that day. The books were completely sold out. A number of guests were disappointed that they were not able to purchase the book on the day of the launch. However, the publisher Thomson Reuters / Sweet & Maxwell Asia managed to remedy the situation by handing out order forms and promising quick delivery as soon as the books are in stock. For my part, if you have received the book, please contact me at Seumas@MediationSkills.org and I will be more than happy to autograph it for you.

Speaking about autographing, the books were supposed to go on sale after the official launch, however, something amusing happened along the way that got the books to go on sale before the official launch took place. Immediately after the workshop, I was approached by Mahendran from Thomson Reuters’ marketing department to sign two copies of the book. One copy was to be given to Lim Chee Wee (President of the Malaysian Bar) while the other was to be given to Datuk Kuthubul Zaman Bukhari (Chairman of the Malaysian Mediation Centre /Chairman of the Asian Mediation Association) as token of appreciation for launching the book. As I was signing the two copies, I did not realize there was already a queue forming in front of me waiting to purchase the book. I was truly humbled by that experience to see so many of you supporting my writing career. Mahendran asked me whether he could go ahead to sell the book in view that Mediation Skills and Techniques has not been formally launched yet. Well, for logistic reason, I asked Mahendran to go ahead with the sale as there was already a line forming. I was most delighted to meet so many of you and it has been an honour and privilege to sign so many books on that day. By the time Mediation Skills and Techniques was officially launched, the books have already gone out of stock. According to the Publisher, this was one of the rarest moments as far as they can remember or perhaps the first time ever that the books were completely sold out at a launch! 

The programme for the book launch started right on the dot (the Malaysian time concept certainly did not apply here!). Rachel Tan being the ever gracious person accepted my invitation to be the MC for the book launch. She did a splendid job! The programme started with a short speech from Prakash Nagarajan who is the Business Development Manager, Thomson Reuters / Sweet & Maxwell, South East Asia who represented the Managing Director who was away at that time. 

Immediately after Prakash’s speech was my turn to speak. In my speech, I shared with the guests on what inspired me to write and how I believe in writing books which are easy to read and understand, simple and yet practical. I informed the guests that I do not believe in writing voluminous books and if anyone can even remember half of what they have read, that would have been fantastic. It was precisely for that very reason, I put in a lot of stories and illustrations in the book. It is my hope that the readers are able to relate to those stories and easily recall the techniques and skills when the need arises. It is easier to remember the story rather than the theory. At the end, I thanked all those people who have supported me and gave me unconditional love all these years – just to name a few, my beautiful wife Jennifer, my kids Ashley and Douglas and my parents.

Immediately after my speech came Lim Chee Wee’s speech. Chee Wee, the ever humble fella who had sportingly allowed me to pick on him during my speech started by saying “In consistent with my height, my speech is going to be SHORT!!!” Chee Wee gave a very touching speech saying that the Malaysian Bar will miss me when I move to Sydney at the end of the year. Chee Wee paid a small tribute to me by saying that when I leave Malaysia, I will be leaving a small legacy behind knowing that the book will leave a mark in Malaysia. Chee Wee urged me to consider to remain as a lawyer in Malaysia and also a lawyer in Sydney, thus becoming an international lawyer (hmmm…..sounds tempting but I am not sure whether the Legal Profession Act 1976 would allow it. I need to check on that).

The next speech came from Datuk Kuthubul Zaman who said that when he first met me, he was amazed that I could hypnotized people, however, at that time he wasn’t sure whether I would make a good Mediator. Datuk Zaman related some old and amusing stories and finally concluded that I have met all of the criterias (I am not sure what the criterias are now) that made me an excellent Mediator! Well, thank you for your kind words, Datuk. It looks like I got some big shoes to fill!

Then the highlight of the launch was the signing of the mock book cover by Lim Chee Wee and Datuk Kuthubul Zaman. It was a wonderful day for me. Many friends attended the launch. Some of them were my former school mates like Yip Chee Seng and my good buddies, Choong Tuck Meng and wife, Daniel Boon, Leong Meng Leong, Syed Annuar, Sharifah, Francis Chong, Mark Ong and Suresh Kumar. His Excellency, the High Commissioner of Singapore, Mr Ong Keng Yong and the Counsellor Mike Kuek were there as well. My fellow Mediators, Gunavathi, Nacha, Tejinder, Wong Lu Peen, Sivanesan and Sumathi were there to lend support as well. I have also invited the High Commissioner of Australia who unfortunately was unable to attend as he had a prior engagement. In view of my ties with Australia, it would have been nice if the Australian High Commission send a representative to the launch instead. Oh, well.....things happen for a reason.  

I would like to mention a special thank you to my good friend Yuen Wing Soon whom I regard as one of the top photographers in Malaysia for taking all the wonderful pictures. Yuen normally takes photographs of catwalk models. I guess by taking photos of me, it would be a great challenge for him, especially the touching up of the photos! As my wife said, even though the launch has been over for more than a week, my tail is still wagging!

Book signing at KL Convention Centre

I attended my first autograph session (book signing) at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) on Wednesday, 25^th April 2012. I was there from 3.00pm until 5.00pm. It was an amazing two hours of fame. It definitely made a lot of difference when you have written a book. People tend to pay more attention when you are talking to them and somehow they make you feel like a celebrity!

However, each time when my head began to swell with ego, I reminded myself that fame only last momentarily but true friends last forever. I met up with some old buddies in the KLCC. I had a good chat with Rachel Tan, Sumitra Penesar (both formerly from Bar Council) and Jonson Chong (a new accredited Mediator with MMC). It was great fun and a new experience for me.

I also learned a new phrase from one of the readers when he said to me, “Can you paint my book for me?” When translated, simply means “Can you sign my book for me?” I was also asked some personal questions such as “What inspired me to write the book?” and “What does it take to write a book?” Those were all valid questions and I welcomed them. It was a good day for me. Thank you, Thomson Reuters (Sweet & Maxwell) for publishing my book!