The difference between a ''Politician wannabe Entrpreneur''
investing with PUBLIC FUNDS, and that of a Private Investor
investing his own funds - is that the politician is a bean counter,
looking at the numbers, and hard data of a project; while a Private
Investor besides looking at the same basic conditions will go a few
step beyond - with accumulated basic acumen, a sense of
opportunity, an ability to identify common strings between parties
that bond the enterprise.
Sadly, it is during the passing of the founder of the Genting Group
that this little known piece of news emerged to truly reveal the
greatness that makes a Man.
It certainly shows that a humble man will always remember his
origin, and that it is useless to hoard power and wealth, that it
will always be better to utilise the power in new found wealth to
generate wealth in others - even for those whom one know little
of.
Native American tribe to honour Goh Tong for his
help
The Star,
Monday, 29 October 2007
GENTING HIGHLANDS: The late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tongs legacy does not
only live on in Genting, but halfway round the world in the Native
American tribe of the Mashantucket Pequot.
Unknown to most Malaysians, in 1991 the late Goh Tong helped the
tribe that was struggling to grow cabbage by investing in their
idea of building a casino, the Foxwoods Resort & Casino, which
has now become the largest casino in the world.
The chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, a sovereign
nation within the US located in the state of Connecticut, Michael
Thomas said the tribe owed a great deal to Lim for his vision and
his confidence in them.
When we wanted to start the casino, we approached 23 lending
institutions who all turned us down because there was no guarantee
we would pay back the loans, he said.
As a result of a meeting with the business partner of Tan Sri Lim
Kok Thay, Nicky Brown, Thomas and his tribe were introduced to the
late Goh Tong who turned out to be the only one who would help
them.
He heard about our situation and actually came to our place to
meet our people and see for himself what we were about and what our
values were, he said after meeting with Lims family for over two
hours at the wake yesterday.
Within 48 hours of meeting us, he agreed to give his support in
the form of a US$$60mil (RM200mil) investment, he said, adding
that Americans widely credited the Pequot tribe for opening the
doors for hundreds of other Native American tribes to open their
own gaming centres.
Thomas said the success of the Pequot tribe, together with another
Native American tribe, now created USS$2.7bil (RM9.02bil) in
revenue for the Connecticut state government from taxes levied
from their slot machines.
Thomas, who led a nine-man delegation from the US, arrived
yesterday without some of his luggage as it had been delayed,
apologised for his informal dress and said that he would be dressed
in traditional attire when giving a eulogy at Goh Tongs funeral
today.
A number of customs that are only extended to our own people have
been and will be bestowed on Goh Tong to mark his passing, he
said.
Thomas said this included all buildings in the nation flying their
flag at half-mast for a week, while a sacred stone called Wampum
which is sourced from a clam called the Quohog would be given to
the family.
The stone is valuable because it is usually only given to our
leaders, he said.
Thomas said it was important for the world to know that it was the
faith Goh Tong had in them that allowed them to succeed beyond
their wildest dreams.
Pequot tribe vice-chairman Kenneth Reels said Goh Tongs help
allowed their nation to be self-sufficient while creating some
10,000 jobs there.
As a nation, if you have to be dependent on somebody else then you
are not exercising sovereignty to the fullest.
He has enabled us to do that. We are here today because we feel it
is appropriate to pay our respects to someone who gave respect to
us.
He is part of our history and we have a family relationship that
we will cherish forever. His family is part of ours as ours is part
of theirs.