Previously: in Chapter 11, the group sit by a rooftop pool and drink traditional Malayan sweet drinks, then Lucas, Tuah and Putera go to the helipad to greet Lim Kok Thay, Bernard, and Beth Moses, an astronaut. When they arrive they go to lunch together. Lim Kok Thay invites Lucas to play golf the following day. At dinner, Lim Kok Thay treats his guest to the Gentings experience: an opulent meal then rooftop karaoke.

In this chapter, Lucas plays golf with Lim Kok Thay and gains some insight into Lim’s father’s legacy and the ongoing family drama which motivates his release of a biography.

Read from Ch 1

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Tuah is waiting outside the apartments for me in a black Mercedes when I step outside; like Leann, I wonder if he ever sleeps. He greets me with his wide smile, freshly shaved and bright-eyed as though the champagne-fuelled karaoke session of the previous evening had never happened. I guess he must be used to the hectic lifestyle.

I apologise for my lack of correct golfing attire, but it wasn’t something I considered packing for ahead of my trip especially with my inbuilt preoccupation with travelling light. I tell him about a holiday many years ago to Scotland when the airline lost half our luggage, the half containing my clothes, which resulted in me spending the first day walking around in my wife’s bright yellow raincoat.

He laughs as he shifts the car into gear, and we head away from the resort.

“No need to apologise. I have pre-empted your needs and arranged for golfing shoes to be made available for you along with a collared polo shirt. Lim keeps a selection of clothing at the club for such occasions.”

I suggest that the clothes might almost lend me some skill on the course, if I am lucky, as clothes are so often capable of elevating our self-esteem … or indeed have the opposite effect.

Tuah smiles. “I do not wish to scare you before we even arrive, but this course is known for being quite precarious.”

Then, I tell him, I hope that they have ordered in a shipment of new golf balls. I ask if he gets much opportunity to play himself.

“A little,” he says. “I am still learning, and I too, have to take a large supply of golf balls when I am playing. You will find that Lim is an excellent player.”

I ask if he will turn the car around now and put me out of my misery, and he laughs out loud. Seriously though, I tell him that I am a little in awe of Lim Kok Thay, as he has this charisma that sets him apart from the people around him. I feel I will need to apologise in advance for my lack of skill on the course.

“What would you say if I told you that …” Tuah says, his gaze flickering between me and the road, “Lim is a little in awe of you too?”

I stare out of the window at the magnificent view as we head downhill from the resort. I had been feeling a little anxious about this morning’s meeting, not only because of my undesirable skills with a golf club, but because Lim Kok Thay is a man whose decisions regularly make or lose millions, something that most of us cannot even begin to comprehend. So, to hear that Lim might potentially be feeling the same way about our meeting, comes as a surprise. I ask Tuah why.

“Lim is a brilliant businessman, his mind is sharp, and he can process information and make decisions on the spot. Give him a spreadsheet and he will know at a glance how to turn it around and make it work. But you are a master of words. You know how to make people laugh or cry, you make people see what you are seeing inside your head, and that is a very special skill.”

As we approach the course, the jungle, the landscaped fairways, and large ornamental ponds are barely visible beneath an eerie layer of cloud, and Tuah explains that the climate here is perfect for golfers, being much less humid than the lowlands. While I am being fitted for shoes and a collared T-shirt, Lim Kok Thay arrives in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes; he is already clothed for the course. Tuah speaks to him briefly and I wonder if he ever has the opportunity to switch off from business matters – even our game this morning has been arranged to discuss the terms of writing his biography.

We shake hands, Lim and I, and take a buggy to hole 1.

“I don’t wish to scare you,” says Lim with a smile, “but hole 1 is known to be the most difficult of the course. It is narrow, with the jungle on the right, and a monsoon drain on the left. The breeze is gentle though, which helps to keep the shots on target.”

He prepares to tee off first and makes it look easy. I tell him that at least I know the rest of the course will be uphill all the way. He stands back.

“Hole 13 is uphill all the way,” he says as I prepare my swing.

I congratulate myself for only losing two balls during the first hole. When we reach hole 4, I am surprised to see that we are teeing off from an elevated position above one of the large ponds. Once we settle into our game, the conversation progresses naturally beyond golfing skills and handicaps. I ask if Lim was always interested in resorts and cruise ships, or whether this was a gradual development alongside his father’s vision for Genting.

“My father’s vision was contagious,” he says. “He saw it, not only as a way of making profits, but as a way of bringing wealth to the community, something he was passionate about. I guess I took it a step further by making it accessible to more people.”

Resorts World Genting is glamorous and busy, combining relaxation with luxury, and of course gaming and retail – I ask him if this is how he envisaged it right from the start. “Everything is a work in progress,” he says. “When you write, you must reach a point when you decide your work is ready to be released into the world, but do you ever read it back at a later date and wish you had included another chapter?”

I nod and tell him I have been known to wish I had written a novel with an entirely different ending, but that I would drive myself crazy if I dwelled on such notions.

He laughs. “I am the man who drives himself crazy. I am constantly trying to give our visitors what they want. Look around you at any resort in any country around the world, and everyone is looking for an escape. Look at Vegas where time stands still, Disney with its magic, the Indian ocean with its beautiful beaches. I am constantly watching these escapes so that I might offer the best of what people want.”

Why now, I ask him, why does he want to write his biography now?

“You may not be aware,” he says, “but my family has recently been plagued by four lawsuits. We were like a family playing paintball, each of us so splattered with paint that it was no longer possible to tell who was playing on which side, or what they were trying to achieve.”

I ask the most obvious question: did the lawsuits revolve around money?

“Yes. Money can be a terrible affliction to some people.” Lim raises a hand to shield his eyes and peers across the green, gauging his next shot. So far, he has lost no balls and I have lost count of the number I have sent to their demise in the jungle. “And that may sound like a pretentious and flippant comment from someone who is wealthy, but I mean this from both sides of the fence. The poorest wish to have enough money to be comfortable, while the wealthy become greedy, and comfort is no longer sufficient.”

My initial reaction is that during my short stay in Singapore and what little time I have spent at Resorts World Genting, I have seen all around me people spending extortionate sums of money on luxury, be it clothes, hotels, dining, or champagne. This is what has led to Lim being named ‘Travel Entrepreneur of the Year’ and ‘Most Influential Person in Asian Gaming’, and is also how he has achieved billionaire status by perhaps fuelling this greed, but still, I sense something far deeper, far more personal. I have long since learned from my wife to listen until I am satisfied that I have heard the story from all perspectives. I remain silent and wait for him to continue.

“For myself,” he says while we are in the buggy, “I can handle lawsuits and accusations, and people trying to get their hands on money that was not destined to be theirs, but when it comes to my father’s legacy, I will not sit back and watch it play into my accuser’s hands.”

I nod. I ask what exactly he has been accused of; it seems that this difficult period is what has triggered the desire to write the biography, and I’m assuming that it will be featured in the book, which means that I need to understand what I am dealing with here. All sides of the story.

“Family members are claiming that my mother’s will contains forged signatures. I am a businessman. I am good at what I do, and I aim to continue to be good at what I do. I am not a thief, or a swindler, and I would never betray my father, or his legacy, in such a way.”

I get again the same impression that I had on first meeting Lim Kok Thay, that he is a resilient, intelligent man, who would survive with or without his fortune because he would find another way to climb back up the ladder. I also get the deep sense that heritage and family mean more to him than bank accounts. I might be wrong, but I’m going with my gut instinct which from experience, rarely lets me down. I ask if the lawsuits and family wrangling will play a part in the biography.

“I have two nephews who are not yet satisfied with the outcome,” he says. “They intend to pursue the matter and I am under no illusions that they wish to take me down with them.”

We are at hole 13 which is uphill and surrounded by dense rainforest. Lim Kok Thay still looks as unruffled as when he stepped out of the Mercedes, while I am feeling slightly dishevelled and embarrassed because I appear to have lost yet another ball. I suggest that the Malaysian rainforest would be the ideal place for a crime writer to lose a body or two, judging by the number of golf balls it swallows.

Lim smiles then and inclines his head. “I will be sure to keep that information from my nephews. One has quite a reputation already and it is not for his generosity or kindness.”

That is not a statement I was expecting to hear. I place a fresh ball on the green close to the rainforest and a long way from where I would have liked the original to land, while I mull this over. Eventually, after my shot which is a slight improvement from the last, I ask Lim if the situation frightens him.

He studies the hole, gauging his next shot. “It strengthens me. It gives me determination to never concede. A winner, I will always back, someone who strives for greatness and takes others to the top with them, but someone who wants to achieve status by breaking others, no.” He shakes his head. “That I will not allow.”

I suggest that the feuds must have placed quite a strain on the entire family. I seem to recall reading that Lim’s son recently stepped down as CEO of Genting Hong Kong, and wonder if this had anything to do with the legal battles taking place.

“No, it is not connected,” he says. “It was a great disappointment to me, but I have always encouraged my children to follow their own destiny and so I did not stand in his way. Even so, our relationship has not been the same since.”

I ask if he feels that his son in some way let him down to save his own reputation – from what I recall, Genting Hong Kong had been hit hard by the pandemic and was struggling to recover.

“He had his own ventures to pursue. I fully support him in this, and he knows that I will continue to do whatever I can to help him, but it is his attitude that has shifted off course, and not mine. I hope, anyway. It is almost as though he understands that he did not act with dignity; he has assumed that he has incurred my disappointment and so is acting as though my disappointment has been paraded before him and that he is now a lesser son than he was before.”

I suggest that guilt affects people in many ways: some use anger to overcome their emotions, despite the inciting actions being their own; others remove themselves from the situation completely so that they do not have to confront the consequences. I say that I am certain this will be resolved in time as they are still on speaking terms, and eventually his son will understand that Lim is harbouring no bitterness.

“I am sure that you are right,” says Lim.

We head back to the golf club after the last hole. “I have arranged for you to take brunch with my two sons,” says Lim. “I hope you are not offended, but I must leave for another meeting, and it would not be fair for you to miss out on the meal which I am sure you will find more than satisfying.”

I tell him that I am not offended and am indeed looking forward to meeting his sons.

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Go to Ch 12, Part 2