Sir Tan Sri Datuk Hiew-king Tiong is the Malaysian Chinese

Malaysian Chinese

Malaysian Chinese is a Malaysian of Chinese origin. Most are descendants of Chinese who arrived between the fifteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. Within Malaysia, they are usually simply referred to as "Chinese" in all languages. The term Chinese Malaysian is also sometimes used to refer to...

 founder and chairman of the Rimbunan Hijau Group, a timber company founded in 1975. Its overseas timber operations in Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

 is the largest in that country. He also has interests in logging operations in Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

.

Tan Sri Datuk Tiong resides in Sibu

Sibu

Sibu may refer to:*Sibu, Sarawak in Eastern Malaysia*Sibu Division*Sibu , an impact crater on Mars*Pulau Sibu, an island off the eastern coast of peninsular Malaysia*Sibu , name of a goddess in the Bribri tribe, in Costa Rica...

, a town in Sarawak

Sarawak

Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...

, of Borneo

Borneo

Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....

 island that belongs to Malaysia. With a reported net worth of about US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

1.1 billion, Tiong is ranked by Forbes as the 840th richest person in the world.

Tiong's Rimbunan Hijau Group also controls Sin Chew Jit Poh

Sin Chew Jit Poh

Sin Chew Daily （formerly known as Sin Chew Jit Poh）, is a leading Chinese-language newspaper in Malaysia. According to report from the Audit Bureau of Circulation for the period ending 30 June 2009, Sin Chew Daily has an average daily circulation of some 400,000 copies...

and Guang Ming Daily

Guang Ming

Guang Ming Daily was previously known as Sin Pin Daily , Sin Pin Daily was founded by the Aw brothers which have also started Sin Chew Daily...

, two of the major Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

 national dailies in Malaysia, The National Daily in Papua New Guinea and Ming Pao

Ming Pao

Ming Pao is a Chinese language newspaper published by Ming Pao Group in Hong Kong. In the 1990s, Ming Pao established four overseas branches in North America, each provides independent reporting on local news and collect local advertisements. Currently, only the two Canadian editions remain: Ming...

 Holdings Ltd in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

. He is forging a global Chinese publishing group with his Ming Pao Enterprises; Ming Pao newspaper is also available in San Francisco (no longer in business since Feb. 15, 2009), New York, Vancouver and Toronto.

Influence In Local Politics

Back home in Sibu, Tiong and his family are members of the ruling Sarawak United People's Party

Sarawak United People's Party

The Sarawak United Peoples' Party, or SUPP is a political party in Malaysia. The party is one of the constituent members of the ruling Barisan Nasional...

 (SUPP), a major party of the ruling coalition government in Sarawak. Tiong's younger brother Tiong Thai King

Tiong Thai King

Datuk Tiong Thai King is a Malaysian politician. He is currently the Member of the Parliament of Malaysia for the Lanang constituency in Sarawak, representing the Sarawak United Peoples' Party in the governing Barisan Nasional coalition....

 has been the Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 of the Lanang Parliamentary Constituency in Sibu since 1995 till today.

Residents in Sibu were told in the Malaysian general election, 1995

Malaysian general election, 1995

General elections were held in Malaysia on 25 April 1995. The result was a victory for the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional, which won 162 of the 192 seats. Voter turnout was 68.3%.-Results:...

 that by going abroad was to look after the welfare of fellow Sibu Fuzhou

Fuzhou

Fuzhou is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong linguistic and cultural area....

employees', since the forest of Sarawak was depleting fast. The election campaign statements were made very touchy to the Sibu voters in the general election.

External links

• Rimbunan Hijau — official site
• Being well connected goes a long way in Malaysia — Malaysia Today: MT-News