RK Nathan J:

Facts

The plaintiff is a businessman and resides in Petaling Jaya, Selangor. Sometime in March 1991 he read an advertisement in the New Straits Times of a resort known as Port Klang Golf Resort (the resort). He called at the defendant's office. The defendant is the licence-holder of a golf course which provides golfing facilities at the resort. The plaintiff was handed pamphlets and a brochure extolling the many virtues of the said resort.

The said brochure had, emblazoned on the front inner cover, the following message:

PORT KLANG GOLF RESORT

Port Klang Golf Resort, the first seaside golf resort with seasports facilities in Malaysia, is located next to the nation's premier port, the North Port of Klang. Apart from offering what that is contemporarily available in most of the leading golf clubs, it has been specially designed to include a marina, floating chalets, apartments, a floating seafood restaurant, an esplanade with a 3-km long jogging track and a wide range of family-oriented activities such as seasports, fishing and island cruises. These fun filled activities are not only for the golfing fraternity but also their families and friends. This is a distinct feature Port Klang Golf Resort has to offer you and your family over any other premier golf clubs in Malaysia.

This prestigious resort not only boasts of a magnificent and beautifully landscaped 18 hole championship golf course, it also provides a complete range of facilities to serve both the golfing and non-golfing members, their families and friends, with on-land and sea activities. What's more, its transferable membership would ensure that your investment grows while you savour the good things in life!

Port Klang Golf Resort's principal objective is to provide an exotic and convenient place for golfers and non-golfers, businessmen, travellers, tourists and all holiday-makers to make the most of their time. And all this conducted amidst the serenity of lush greens and the scenic splendours of the historic Straits of Malacca.

'There Has Never Been Any Place Quite Like It!'

The said resort boasted, among others, a three-storey golf-resort complex equipped with convention halls, a health centre, sauna, gymnasium, squash courts, snooker and games rooms, a library, pro-shops, boutique, hair saloon and restaurant, floating chalets, a floating seafood restaurant, a marina for yachts and boats and an 18-hole championship golf course.

In an inner page embossed with a picture-print showing sleek white-coloured yachts and boats moored alongside a jetty fringed with coconut palms and shady trees fronting a sea with shimmering waters, the defendant trumpeted:

A FANFARE OF EXCELLENT FACILITIES

One of the most exciting facilities of this resort is the marina. Guests can even sail into Port Klang Golf Resort! The proposed marina has excellent facilities for yachts and boats. It is fully equipped to receive these vessels and guests can even rent boats for fishing, sailing or island cruises. Adjacent to the marina is the sea exhibition and regatta area, designed for sporting, exhibition and social events. In addition to the seasports and other recreational facilities provided by this truly unique resort are a floating seafood restaurant, swimming pool, tennis/squash courts and an esplanade ideal as a jogging track or for a leisurely stroll, just to name a few. Indeed, there has never been any resort quite like this!"

Plaintiff's Case

The plaintiff's case was that he was lured by the brochure which promised the proposed facilities which he considered unique. He intended to use the said membership to entertain his business clientele since the facilities proposed, promised to be of a high standard. He also intended that his family should enjoy the various facilities promised. He also wished to play golf at the said Resort. He then signed a licence agreement on 20 April 1991 with the defendant, whereby he subscribed for 320 "Class B" shares of RM100 each in the defendant. He ther