Goh Tong dies at 90

KUALA LUMPUR: Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, the founder of the Genting Group and one of the world’s richest men, died Tuesday. He was 90.

His son Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay said his father died at the Subang Jaya Medical Centre where he was admitted two days ago.

The funeral will be held on Monday.

“On behalf of my family and the Genting Group of companies, it is with great sadness I announce that my father and the founder of the Genting Group of companies passed away peacefully at 11.20am this morning.

“He was not ill. It was due to old age,” he told reporters at the hospital.

Sitting with him at the press conference was his sister Lim Siew Lian. Goh Tong’s wife Puan Sri Lee Kim Hua and several other relatives were also at the hospital.

At 5pm, an ambulance with Lim’s body, led by two police cars, left the hospital.

At 6.15pm, it was seen passing through the checkpoint at the entrance to his home GohTong Villa at GohTong Jaya, a township halfway up Genting Highlands.

A convoy of eight cars ferrying family members followed the ambulance.

At the GohTong Memorial Park where Lim will be buried, a hearse picked up an empty coffin at 6.30pm and headed towards the house. A simple ceremony was performed at the hill before the hearse left.

The park, which sites a mausoleum for the late tycoon, is about 1km from Lim's residence.

Mausoleum caretaker Kua Seng Kee declined to talk to pressmen and barred them from entering the site.

Pressmen were also denied entry to Lim’s residence.

About a dozen policemen were present to ensure that only those invited could go through the first security checkpoint of three before the house, taking down details of people in the cars.

Cars passing by the road to the GohTong Sports Centre nearby were also asked to turn back.

Meanwhile, condolence messages and tributes poured in from political and business leaders in the country and overseas.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi described Lim's death as a great loss to the country and all Malaysians while MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said he was an exemplary figure to all Malaysians.

Lim developed the popular hill resort of Genting Highlands and founded the Genting Group which comprised listed companies on the Bursa Malaysia as well as the Singapore and Hong Kong stock exchanges.

He was ranked 204th on the Forbes 2007 list of billionaires worldwide and his life has always been seen as a classic “rags to riches” story.

Born in 1918 in China’s Fujian Province, Lim came to the then Malaya when he was 19.

Remembering Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong
Lim Goh Tong dies at 90
Photo gallery