Tiong Hiew King
TAN Sri Datuk Tiong Hiew King is the Malaysian Chinese founder and chairman of the Rimbunan Hijau Group, a timber company founded in 1975. Its overseas timber operations in Papua New Guinea make Tiong the largest logging company in that country. He also has interests in logging operations in Russia.
According to Forbes Magazine, Tiong is the 840th richest person in the world, with a net worth US$1.1 billion (2007). Mr Tiong has three children and resides in Sibu, a town in Sarawak on the island of Borneo that belongs to Malaysia.
Tiong’s Rimbunan Hijau Group also controls Sin Chew Jit Poh and Guang Ming Daily, two of the major Chinese national dailies in Malaysia, The National Daily in Papua New Guinea and Ming Pao Holdings Ltd in Hong Kong. He is forging a global Chinese publishing group with his Ming Pao Enterprises; Ming Pao newspaper is also available in San Francisco, New York, Vancouver and Toronto.
In Sibu, Tiong and his family are members of the ruling Sarawak United People’s Party, a major party of the ruling coalition government in Sarawak. Tiong’s younger brother Tiong Thai King has been a member of parliament of the Lanang Parliamentary Constituency in Sibu since 1995.
Tiong is apparently considering merging its palm oil estates and forest assets around the world into one entity and listing it in Hong Kong. Similar plans by similar people have occasionally met with stiff opposition from environmental groups in Hong Kong.
Tiong already merged his 3 Chinese-language publishing firms. His ailing circuit-board maker, Tri-M Technologies, recently bought an energy company in a bid to revive itself.
Tiong Hiew King is a great favourite with Greenpeace.
Some environmentalists believe that, through his companies, Tiong is rightly considered to be one of the biggest contributors to global warming and climate change in the history of the planet.
We are proud to list Mr Tiong Hiew King in the Green Assembly Hall of Fame. Malaysia truly Asia.
We are also proud to note that several of Tiong’s children are doing well with property, forestry and other interests in Australia and New Zealand. For details please consult the Rimbunan Hijau Watch website.
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