Low-profile Sarawak tycoon Tiong Hiew King, whose business empire spanned timber, oil palm plantations, and the media, passed away today aged 90.
Sin Chew Daily reported the founder and executive chairman of Sarawak timber company Rimbunan Hijau Group died at 11am.
The Chinese-language newspaper is part of Bursa Malaysia-listed Media Chinese International Ltd, a company controlled by Tiong.
Forbes ranked him and his family the country’s 25th richest with a net worth estimated at US$820 million (RM3.4 billion). He is survived by his wife Ngu Yii Chuo and five children.
Tiong came from humble roots, born to a poor family in Sarawak in 1935. To help his family, he had to tap rubber when he was young.
In 1975, Tiong and his brothers founded Rimbunan Hijau. The company gradually expanded from hardware and construction materials into timber, oil palm, hotels, retail, media, information technology and finance.
Under his leadership, the conglomerate expanded across Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Russia, China and beyond.
According to Forbes, Tiong held forestry concessions in 16 countries, and the four daily newspapers under Media Chinese International comprise 70% of Malaysia’s Chinese newspaper business.
Tiong also controlled three other listed companies on Bursa – Jaya Tiasa Holdings Bhd, Subur Tiasa Holdings Bhd, and Rimbunan Sawit Bhd.
He also owned New Zealand-based Oregon Group, which builds houses and hotels, harvests salmon and manufactures plastic containers.
Reports indicate he held about 77,000 hectares of land in New Zealand, making him the second-largest private landowner in the country. His landholdings in the country are mainly forest plantations.
Tiong was also the founding president of the World Fuzhou Association and the World Zhang Clan Association.
In 2009, he was knighted by UK’s Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his contributions to Papua New Guinea’s business and charitable causes.
