Genting founder dies

Lim Goh Tong ranked 245 among The World's Richest People In 2006, a high school drop out, who turned a jungle hilltop into one of the world's most successful casino resorts, died today.

Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, the patriarch of the Genting Group, died at the Subang Jaya Medical Centre, this morning. He was 90.

Lim, who was synonymous with Genting Highlands, the "City of Entertainment" which he built single-handedly died of old age, said his son Kok Thay.

Lim was a PWD contractor when he embarked on an ambitious plan to develop the hilltop overlooking Pahang and Selangor. He was granted a licence to operate the country's first and only casino on Genting Highlands and turned it into a premier tourist destination, drawing visitors from far and wide.

The idea of a hill resort was chanced upon by Lim amidst the crisp air of Cameron Highlands in 1964. Lim was then working on a hydro-electric power project at the popular hill resort, patronised mostly by British colonials seeking cool refuge from the tropical heat, when he foresaw a prosperous Malaysia of the future desiring a cool mountain holiday resort within the reach of all Malaysians.

To date, Genting Highlands Resort has five hotels and two apartment blocks at the hilltop and Awana Genting Highlands Golf and Country Resort.

The company, founded in 1965, has since expanded and diversified from its initial hotel and resort activities to plantations, properties, paper manufacturing, power generation, oil and gas, electronic commerce and information technology development under Genting Group.

According to Forbes Asia, the Genting Group founder was third richest in the country with a net worth of US$4.3bil (RM14.6bil).

Read the news from Malaysiakini here, The Star Online here, and Sun2surf here.