Tiong
Hiew King Timber logging is what Tiong knows best because he worked as a timber grader in his uncle’s timber company, WTK Organization when he was 15. Prior to this, he worked as a rubber-tapper. Rubber tapping is the process by which rubber is gathered by making an incision on the bark of a rubber tree. Tiong, an ethnic Chinese, was born in 1935 in Sibu, a town in Sarawak of Borneo island, Malaysia. He started his flagship company, the Rimbunan Hijau Group in 1975. His timber concessions in Sarawak are reputed to be the largest, spanning some 690,000 hectares. Aside from Malaysia, Rimbunan Hijau also has logging activities in North America, Russia, and in Africa. Its timber operations in Papua New Guinea is the largest in that country. Under Rimbunan Hijau Group are various interests in the field of information and communications Technology, palm oil cultivation and processing, hotels, In 1988, Tiong diversified into media. He was invited to revive Malaysia’s Sin Chew Jit Poh by its employees and senior leaders of the ethnic-Chinese community. It had been closed down by then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. Tiong successfully turned it into the most successful Chinese daily in Malaysia (www.mingpaogroup.com). He also controls other major Chinese national dailies in Malaysia including Guang Ming, China Press and Nanyang Siangpau. He also owns Ming Pao and Yazhou Zhoukan in Hong Kong, National in Papua New Guinea. Tiong’s contributions to the development of the Chinese media industry in Malaysia and abroad have earned him the title “Overseas Chinese Media Mogul.” Tiong believes that it is necessary to build a strong global media Chinese group, in order to safeguard the interests of the Chinese. Sources: Mr. Tiong Hiew King, Rimbunan Hijau Group. http://www.africa-asia-confidential.com/whos-who-profile/id/35  |
Rimbunan Hijau Group (http://www.rhg.com.my) which means forever
green in Mandarin, is an international timber logging company founded
by Tiong Hew King, one of Malaysia’s top 10 billionaires.