Leaders of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation of Connecticut are in Malaysia to pay respects to the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, whose $60 million loan launched the Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Chairman Michael Thomas said Tong was the only person who backed the tribe. “We were turned down by 23 financial institutions as they did not believe in the Native American way of doing business. However, 48 hours after meeting with Goh Tong, we shook hands on the deal and our casino opened a year later,” he told the local media.

The tribe plans to present the Lim family with a wampum stone. Back home, the tribe is flying all flags at half-mast in honor of their first investor.

“As a nation, if you have to be dependent on somebody else then you are not exercising sovereignty to the fullest,' vice chairman Kenneth Reels was quoted as saying. "[Goh Tong] enabled us to do that."

Get the Story:
Native American tribe to honour Goh Tong for his help (The Malaysia Star 10/29)
Tycoon changed lives with unselfish acts (The New Strait Times 10/29)