After completing the building of Genting Highlands Resort in 1975, which at that time was just a hotel with a small casino, Lim Goh Tong began construction of the temple. With the same dedication that he demonstrated in developing the Genting Highlands Resort, the late Lim began by gathering a group of friends many of whom were from his own Anxi clan and ancestry village of Penglai in Fujian Province of China, and established the Chin Swee Temple Society. Always leading by example, the late Lim began a donation drive by contributing a 28-acre land for the construction of the temple. In addition, his companies Resorts World Bhd and Genting Berhad made a cash donation of RM8.1 million for the building fund. The late Lim was elected as the Chairman of the society while his son, Lim Kok Thay was appointed as its Deputy Chairman. The temple which was officially opened on 29 March 1994 by Ling Liong Sik, overlooks lush green slopes of virgin forest with a view of the winding road ascending to Genting Highlands. Such is the tranquility of the place that just by standing there one can feel the peacefulness of the environment in the midst of the moving white clouds and gentle cool breeze. Construction of the temple was both arduous and dangerous due to the steep and rocky terrain, which made it impossible to utilise modern machinery for fundamental work such as piling. However, with the same tenacity and determination that he put in when building Genting Highlands Resort, the late Lim who acted as the planner, architect, designer, contractor and supervisor used manual labour for the digging of the foundation for the temple. He and his team manually dug holes of 80 to 100 ft in depth for this tricky hill slope development. After all this tedious and time-consuming work the temple was completed in 18 years. More importantly, despite adopting such manual approach in extremely difficult situations and risky environment, there were neither casualties nor work-related accidents reported during the whole period of construction.
Features
The temple's first stage of development, costing an estimated RM12 million, is made up of an imposing traditional structure. A massive statue of Buddha stands behind the building. There is originally around 10,000 blessing lamps installed for those looking to be blessed despite only 2,000 remain until today. The temple has tall red columns supporting an ornamental roof. The exterior wall carries many inscriptions that depict the life of the Reverend Chin Swee and his major charitable and supernatural works. Within the temple, the statue of the Reverend Chin Swee placed in accordance with feng shui principles is seated at the northern part of the main hall with his face looking south. Behind the statue is a natural rock in a man-made flowing stream. The rock gives the necessary support to the statue while the stream provides clear cool mineral water throughout the year. This water has been named "Dragon Mineral Water" where it could healed the sick. The Reverend Chin Swee's birthday falls on the 6th day of Lunar New Year and is celebrated for ten days beginning from the first day of the Lunar New Year. Going forward and with the completion of these latest additions, the temple committee is planning for more events and celebrations aimed at depicting not only the good deeds of the Reverend Chin Swee but also the richness of the Malaysian Chinese culture.
