Lim, the
founder of Genting, based in Kuala Lumpur, and Malaysia's third-richest person,
died after a short illness, his grandson said by phone.
Lim, who
started out selling vegetable seeds in China, built Malaysia's only licensed
casino and created what is now Malaysia's eighth-largest listed company, with
interests in gambling, hotels and cruise lines from Britain to Hong Kong.
Forbes in May estimated his wealth at $4.3 billion.
"He's a
legend," Tan Kai Hee, group managing director at Hai-O Enterprise and a
council member of the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of
Malaysia, said in an interview in February. "He's an impressive
entrepreneur who went through very difficult and challenging times in building
his business."
Lim was born
in the mountainous Anxi county in China's Fujian Province. His father's death
forced him to leave school and start selling vegetable seeds to support his
family at the age of 16. In 1937, he left China for British-controlled Malaya,
as the country was then known, where he became a building contractor.
During the
Japanese occupation of Malaya from 1941 to 1945, Lim survived on vegetable
farming and petty trading, before switching to dealing in hardware and scrap
metal trading, on which he started to build his fortune.
After the
British returned to Malaya at the end of World War II, Lim benefited from the
postwar reconstruction. He bought used machinery tendered after public projects
were completed and sold them at higher prices.
Lim, who did
not speak English and had no knowledge of engineering, also ventured into
mining and construction. His experience "and a little layman common
sense" helped him succeed, he wrote in his autobiography.
Enjoying the
cool mountain air of a hill station while working on a hydroelectric project in
1963, Lim came up with the idea of building a hilltop resort close to Kuala
Lumpur. The plan stunned friends and fellow contractors, who warned Lim, then
45 and a successful businessman, against it.
He spent
seven years developing Genting, laying a road and building a hotel on a
1,800-meter, or 5,900-foot, hill outside the city. Failing to lure others to
join the project, Lim invested all his money in the project without getting any
returns in the seven years it took to build.
"At one
stage, I was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy," he wrote.
Lim had
support from the government of Malaysia, which gained independence from British
rule in 1957. The Malaysian government permitted him to pursue the project and
subsidized the road. It also gave Genting a casino license, renewable every
quarter, and a six-year tax break for the resort business.
Lim married
Lee Kim Hua in 1944. They had three daughters, three sons and 19 grandchildren,
according to his biography. His second son, Lim Kok Thay, is Genting's chief
executive officer.
The Genting
group now includes Resorts World, which operates the casino in Malaysia. The
group owns casinos in Britain and is building Singapore's second casino resort.
Genting also has interests in oil palm plantations and power generation.
Kok Thay
succeeded his father as president and chief executive in 2002, before becoming
chairman in December 2003. Genting needed to become a "global corporation,"
Kok Thay said in 2003.
Admiral
William Crowe Jr., who as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Reagan
administration signed an agreement with Soviet military leaders that helped
reduce tensions between the superpowers, has died in Bethesda, Maryland. He was
82.
The death
Thursday, at the Bethesda Naval Hospital, was announced by the Navy, but no
cause was given.
Crowe, who
retired from the military in 1989 and later served as ambassador to Britain,
met in Moscow in June 1989 with his counterpart, General Mikhail Moiseyev,
chief of the Soviet General Staff, and signed an agreement designed to avoid or
contain accidental military encounters before they could escalate into major
confrontations.
The
agreement, covering areas like laser-weapons testing, radio jamming and
accidental incursions of airspace, was credited as a tentative but important
step toward the eventual thaw in the Cold War.
Crowe also
had to balance interservice rivalries at a time when congressional critics were
citing wasteful duplication in weapons programs and calling for reduced
military spending. He was also in charge when the United States conducted
strikes in Libya in 1986 in retaliation for a bombing at a discotheque in West
Berlin, and he oversaw U.S. protection of oil tankers in the Gulf during the
Iran-Iraq war.
Lim Goh
Tong, founder of Genting, has died.
This first article is talk about Tan Sri Dato Seri (Dr.) Lim Goh Tong background and
his history to build up Genting Highland. Tan Sri Dato Seri (Dr.) Lim Goh Tong
was born in Anxi Country, Fujian, China on 28 February 1918. He is founder of
Genting Highlands, Genting Group and Star Cruises. He died on 23 October 2007
at Subang Jaya Medical Centre. He was married to Puan Sri Lee Kim Hua and they
had three daughters, three sons and 19 grandchildren. And now, his second son,
Lim Kok Thay, is Genting's chief executive officer.
His history is that he survived on
vegetable farming and pretty trading from 1941 to 1945, before switching to
dealing in hardware and scrap metal trading. After
the British returned to Malaya, he is carrying out heavy machinery rental
business applies and into mining industries. Finally, he set up his business,
Genting age of 50 years and ventured into the cruise age 75.
Before I read this article, I had read a
lot of information about Tan Sri Dato Seri (Dr.) Lim Goh tong. I think he will
succeed because he set up his business step by step although slow but stable.
When he start to do something with no give up and insist on to achieve his
target. Although he faced a lot of problem without helping by his friend, but
he insists on to continued. I respect him.
Lumpur, and Malaysia's third-richest person, died after a short illness, his grandson said by phone.casinomonster.ca
ReplyDelete