Abang, Adik, Ayah, Stepmother… When Billions Enter the Family, Good Luck
Remember what I said in Part One?
Take a kampung family.
Give them a piece of land.
Then watch.
Abang wants the front portion. Adik says Ayah promised him the back portion. Kakak suddenly produces an old letter. Someone says, "Arwah already told me."
Then everybody gets a lawyer.
Now add three more zeroes.
Welcome to the world of Malaysia's super-rich.
The family tree gets bigger. The companies get bigger. The houses get bigger.
And unfortunately, sometimes the fights get bigger too.
Let's look at some of them.
THE LIMS: GENTING'S BILLION-RINGGIT FAMILY DRAMA
If you want a Malaysian version of Succession, you don't need Hollywood.
Just look at the Lims.
The late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong built Genting from the ground up. The man turned a mountain into one of Malaysia's most recognisable business empires.
But family wealth has its own mountain to climb.
Today, a court battle involving the estate of his daughter, Lim Siew Kim, has put more than RM1.6 billion on the table.
And the numbers are almost unbelievable.
Siew Kim's daughters, Chan T’shiao Li and Kimberley Chan, are challenging their late mother's final will.
Their brother Marcus Chan is a defendant in the case.
According to court reporting, T’shiao Li was left RM900,000 while Kimberley was left RM100,000.
Yes.
You read that correctly.
RM1.6 billion estate.
RM900,000 for one daughter.
RM100,000 for another.
The rest of the estate is tied up in the wider distribution under the disputed arrangements, including substantial interests involving the Dikim Foundation.
The daughters allege the final will was executed under fraudulent or suspicious circumstances. The case is being fought in the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
And as of this year, the courtroom drama is still playing out.
One report even detailed evidence that one of the contested wills was signed while Lim Siew Kim was undergoing cancer treatment in hospital.
That's not a family argument over the Proton.
That's RM1.6 billion.
Think about that number for a second.
Most Malaysians will never see RM1 million in their bank account.
These people are fighting over a fortune where RM1 million can look like pocket change.
And that, my friends, is when duit becomes more than money.
It becomes power.
SAPURA: WHEN AYAH GOES AFTER THE SONS
Then we come to the Sapura family.
This one is particularly interesting because it isn't simply abang lawan adik.
It's ayah lawan anak.
The patriarch is Tan Sri Shamsuddin Abdul Kadir, founder of Sapura.
His sons are Tan Sri Shahril Shamsuddin and Datuk Shahriman Shamsuddin.
The two brothers have been associated with the running of the family empire for decades.
Shahril became a major figure in the expansion of Sapura, while Shahriman was also involved in the family business.
But then came the legal battle.
In the latest development, Shamsuddin has sought to revoke a hibah involving 14.85 million Sapura Holdings shares given to Shahril in 1997.
Each of the two brothers had received 14.85 million shares.
Shahril is challenging his father's application.
That's where this gets very Malaysian.
Hibah.
Shares.
Father.
Son.
Court.
And billions sitting somewhere in the background.
The latest legal dispute follows an earlier family fight in which Shamsuddin sought the return of shares and properties valued at more than RM450 million from his two sons.
The assets included a 15% block in Sapura Holdings and properties in the Klang Valley and Selangor.
The older story is even more dramatic.
According to court documents reported at the time, shares and properties had been transferred to a company controlled equally by the brothers, with the claim that they were being held in trust for their father.
Then the trust relationship broke down.
And once trust disappears inside a family, what remains?
A lawyer's letter.
Then another lawyer's letter.
Then court.
Imagine being 94 years old and still fighting over company shares with your own children.
That is not Succession.
That is Malaysia.
THE NAZA BROTHERS: THREE SONS, ONE EMPIRE
Then there is the Naza family.
The late Tan Sri SM Nasimuddin SM Amin built the Naza name from the automotive business and expanded it into property, manufacturing, hotels and other businesses.
After his death, the family business was divided among his children.
The three sons became particularly prominent:
SM Faisal.
SM Nasarudin.
SM Faliq.
Faisal was associated with the automotive business.
Nasarudin handled major automotive and other group businesses.
Faliq became the man associated with Naza's property arm, including Naza TTDI.
Back in 2009, there were already reports of murmurs of family tension, although Faisal publicly denied that there was an internal conflict.
The brothers continued to appear together publicly.
And perhaps that is the lesson.
Not every family disagreement ends up in a courtroom.
Some are fought quietly.
Some are negotiated.
Some simply disappear from the newspapers.
But if you ask me who played the smartest long game?
I have to mention Faliq.
Not because he won some family war.
Not because he defeated his brothers.
But because he did something that old-school Malaysian tycoons understand very well:
He married into another empire.
In 2018, Faliq married Chryseis Tan, daughter of Berjaya founder Tan Sri Vincent Tan.
One Naza heir.
One Berjaya heir.
Two business dynasties.
Power couple doesn't even begin to describe it.
Some people inherit wealth.
Some people build wealth.
And some people, apparently, marry into another balance sheet.
I'm joking, lah.
But you have to admit — that's one hell of a family connection.
SARAWAK: MAHMUD VS SULAIMAN
And then there is Sarawak.
The Taib family story is a different beast altogether.
The late Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud left behind not only a political legacy but a substantial business network.
At the centre is Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd — CMS.
And two names keep appearing:
Datuk Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib.
Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib.
Brothers.
Mahmud is the elder brother.
Sulaiman is the younger brother and CMS group managing director.
And in 2026, the CMS boardroom became another battlefield.
Reports described a widening rift between the brothers, with Mahmud's position on the board becoming increasingly complicated while Sulaiman remained managing director.
The family dispute is also connected to the legal fight involving their stepmother, Toh Puan Raghad Kurdi Taib, over CMS shares.
The brothers have challenged the transfer of CMS shares to Raghad and had sought to halt the transfer.
They even sought to bring their father, Taib Mahmud, into the case as a defendant.
The case has continued through the courts, with the Court of Appeal in July 2026 allowing appeals by Raghad and RHB Investment Bank to proceed after rejecting the brothers' bid to strike them out.
And this is where it gets uncomfortable.
This isn't just about family jewellery or a bungalow.
We're talking about CMS, a major Sarawak corporate institution.
So when brothers fight over control, ownership and shares, the argument isn't taking place around the kopitiam table.
It is happening in the boardroom.
And the court.
Same family.
Much bigger table.
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