
Picture in Courtesy of New Straits Times Online
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s “Casino King” Lim Goh Tong, who turned a jungle hilltop into one of the world’s most successful casino resorts, died on Tuesday, his son said. He was 90.
Lim developed the hilltop Genting Highlands casino resort in the 1960s and made it the crown jewel of his Genting group, a conglomerate with listed companies on the Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong stock exchanges.
Former leader Mahathir Mohamad had said that the success of Lim, a Chinese immigrant who had nothing when he came to Malaysia in his late teens, set a shining example for the country’s business community.
“If there were more entrepreneurs like him, Malaysia would have achieved more in its economic development,” said Mahathir. “His struggle can be considered part and parcel of Malaysian development.”
Lim was ranked 204th on the Forbes 2007 list of billionaires worldwide, with his family’s assets valued at 4.2 billion dollars. His son, Lim Kok Thay, now leads Genting.
“Lim’s life is a story of rags to riches and it is hard to find a similar success story in this country,” Housing Minister Ong Ka Ting said at Lim’s birthday celebrations in April.
Born in 1918 in China’s Fujian province, Lim was 19 when he moved to Malaya, as Malaysia was then known.
He made his first fortune in heavy machinery trading after World War II, but struck it rich when he had the idea to develop a hilltop resort in central Pahang state outside Kuala Lumpur.
His vision for developing Pahang’s Genting Highlands hinged on building a road to the resort site 1,800 metres (5,940 feet) above sea level. He began work on the project in 1965.
Recounting a landslide that almost swept him away, he wrote in his 2004 autobiography: “Back home that night, I said to my wife that I had gone to hell, but was told to turn back and continue with my work.”
Lim completed the road and opened the casino in 1971. It became the flagship of his Genting group that took its name from the resort, which attracts more than 15 million visitors each year.
The group now has gaming operations in Malaysia and Britain, as well as casinos planned for Singapore and Macau, as well as interests in the leisure, power, oil and gas, property and plantation sectors.
Its Hong Kong-listed unit, Star Cruises, is the third-largest cruise operator in the world. Another subsidiary, Genting International, owns Stanley Leisure, Britain’s largest casino operator.
“My father has often reminded me that there is no shortcut to success,” his son Kok Thay said at the April birthday party.
Lim was married to Lee Kim Hua, with whom he had six children.
——–TEXT IN COURTESY OF CHANNELNEWSASIA——–
My condolences to our Malaysia’s reputable business leader’s family. Its a great loss of the Malaysia Business Community. I am sure that he will be well respected by all Malaysians, which he did Malaysia Business Society proud!