MYSTERY OF THE MISSING KIN
Mystery-loving brothers hot on trail of $100m inheritance riddle
By Teh Jen Lee
News 1 /
News 2
March 29, 2007
ONE black-and-white photo and nothing else. A mystery trail with a price tag of millions of dollars.
In step the mystery-busting brothers, Raymond and Charles Goh, who have taken upon themselves to solve the puzzle which has intrigued many Singaporeans of late.
Their mission: To find the relatives who are seen with Lim Chhui Ngor in a photo taken more than 40 years ago.
Those relatives stand to gain a whopping $102 million left behind by Miss Lim, who died last June.
Miss Lim, who was in her 50s, was the great-granddaughter of one of Singapore's pioneer tycoons, Lim Yew Teok, whose estate includes more than $100 million worth of OCBC shares and a house along Neil Road worth $2million.
Reports said Miss Lim was the sole beneficiary of his great grandfather's will.
Where, then, are those women? This was one question the Goh brothers didn't want to ignore. After all, they are past masters in busting mysteries. (See report on facing page.)
So they have put in time, energy and their own money to try and get to the bottom of it.
They hold full-time jobs - Raymond, 43, is a pharmacist while Charles, 39, is an occupational health and safety manager.
The brothers began their search on 13 Mar and it's still going on.
Visit to cemeteries, ploughing through newspaper records, sifting through World War II documents and national archives are all par for the course for them.
And they have uncovered a complex web of court cases over the inheritance of Lim Yew Teok, who died in 1925.
COURT DOCUMENTS
Using court documents, the Gohs have sketched out a complex and messy family tree.
The search for the descendant of Miss Lim first took them to the public cemetery at Choa Chu Kang where they looked around for two days.
They were looking for the tomb of Miss Lim's mother, Koh Tek Leh, as it may bear the inscription of relative's names.
When that didn't turn up any leads, they paid to search through the government burial records.
That turned out to be a dead end too as no records were found.
Mr Charles said: 'It could have been a private burial so I next went to the newspaper microfilm section in the National Library. I started searching from the date of Madam Koh's death, which was published as 20 Feb 1978. I found her obituary on 23 Feb.'
The obituary stated that Madam Koh had a sister - Madam Koh Tek Heng.
Since she was a 'Madam', she could have been married, so the Gohs paid $35 to search through the Registry of Marriage, but the computerised records only went back to 1961.
They then went to the National Archives and paid another $35 to search for marriage records for the years 1942 to 1945.
Raymond said: 'They have to manually search by year, so we gave them the World War II years because many women got married then.'
So far they have not heard back from the archives.
Meanwhile, they googled Koh Tek Heng's name and unexpectedly found it in an all-girls' school alumni newsletter.
Raymond took half-day leave from work to go down to the school.
He said: 'It may be a different person with the same name, but we just have to try whatever we have.'
Using Koh Tek Leh's name as a search term in the paid Lawnet on-line service, Charles found court documents for cases involving the inheritance.
Why have they gone through so much trouble? Are they hoping to get a reward from finding a relative who gets a portion of the estate?
Charles, who started the Asia Paranormal Investigators (API) group, said: 'No. It's a mystery to be solved. So we want to solve it.'
But as the brothers soon discovered, it was getting more complex.
According to their investigations, the brothers claim the first court case over Mr Lim Yew Teok's estate dates as far back as 70 years ago.
One reason there were so many court cases is because of the term 'next-of-kin' as used in the patriarch's will.
It does not specify whether it refers to blood descendants only or also those who marry into the family.
COURT CASES
There were four major court cases, the first one was in 1937 and the last in 1984. Besides these, there were three other cases to determine administrative procedures and definitions.
Another complication of Lim Yew Teok's will is that the distribution date is 21 years after the death of his last surviving child.
This would be Lim Boon Pin, one of his adopted sons, who was still alive at the time of the fourth court case in 1984.
The 21-year period is long enough that some relatives could have gone missing or become uncontactable.
Charles said: 'The search is now on for Lim Boon Pin or his relatives. If he's alive, he should be in his 90s. We will keep on looking until we exhaust all leads.'
They exposed M'sian bigfoot hoax
THE Goh brothers, who are members of the Asia Paranormal Investigators (API) have tackled other mysteries too.
Last year, they worked on the
Malaysian Bigfoot Enigma.
Raymond, who studied Malay as a third language in school, was able to read the many articles in Malay that were published.
He said API's 70-page on-line report, which factually detailed how the sightings were mostly exaggerations, was quoted by cryptozoologists, scientists who study secretive animals.
This is how
About.com, a website owned by The New York Times Company which is respected as one of the largest producers of original content, described their work: 'This is a lengthy report, but worthwhile for those interested in a serious investigation of the sightings - with startling conclusions.'
Charles added that US researchers came to Malaysia and engaged API to be consultants for a Bigfoot documentary that will be released later this year on cable television.
The Gohs attributed their inquisitiveness to a love of reading that started when they were young.
Raymond would read about culture and customs while Charles delved into science fiction and fantasy.
Their parents were avid newspaper readers, and their three other siblings also loved to read.
They don't just devote spare time during the day to mysteries.
Twice a month, the Gohs conduct night tours to dispel Singapore's urban legends such as haunted houses and trees that are supposedly inhabited by spirits.
They also conduct cemetery walks.
Charles, who has been a specialised tourist guide for four years, said: 'It's like a history lesson, but it's held at night so as to attract the young.'
API, which has about 500 registered members, also carries out night tours for Community Clubs and Residents Committees, schools, clubs and private organisations.
Charles said API aims to propagate the belief that most paranormal events can be explained by the application of analytical thinking.
His wife, Madam Tan Bee Lian, who is an accountant, does not think he spends too much time on such activities.
She said: 'It's his passion, so I just let him follow his interest.'
Raymond, who is married with three children, said: 'From young, we were taught to find out the truth so we can understand this complicated world a little better.'
His two younger children, aged 7 and 12, sometimes go with him to tombs. Unlike him, they don't like to read.
'They love computer games. But they do share my interest in cemeteries. They sometimes help me to search for specific tombs or point out those which are particularly old-looking,' said Raymond.
The Gohs will be conducting a free Bukit Brown Cemetery Heritage Tour on 7 Apr.
They will visit the biggest grave in Singapore, as well as some of the oldest tombs that date back to 1844.
Visit
www.api.sg for more information.
Charles Goh and Raymond Goh hope to find Lim Chhui Ngor's inheritence successor
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