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Rimbunan Hijau

Rimbunan Hijau Group
Company typePrivate Limited Company
IndustryForestry, Plantations, Media, ICT, Hospitality
Headquarters2°15′52.6″N 111°50′38.1″E / 2.264611°N 111.843917°E / 2.264611; 111.843917
Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia
Key people
Tan Sri' Dato Tiong Hiew King
Number of employees
10,000[1]
WebsiteRH group Malaysia homepage

Rimbunan Hijau is a Malaysian multinational logging corporation controlled by Malaysian businessman Tiong Hiew King. The company has operations in many countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Vanuatu, New Zealand and Russia.

In Papua New Guinea, Rimbunan Hijau is the single biggest logging operator, and runs the country's biggest sawmill. It also owns one of the two major newspapers in the country, The National.[2]

The company was established in 1975 and has an estimated annual turnover of more than US$1 billion, according to Malaysia-China Business Council.[3]

Businesses

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RH Group old headquarter
RH Hotel in Sibu

The company is involved in various business activities through its subsidiaries such as forestry, oil palm, media, ICT and hospitality.[4]

Subsidiaries

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Jaya Tiasa Holdings

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Jaya Tiasa Holdings started as a downstream wood processing company at Tanjong Ensurai, Sibu, Sarawak in 1983. Jaya Tiasa had five wood processing mills as of 1994. In 2002, the company diversified into the oil palm business and opened the first crude palm oil mill in 2009.[5]

Listed on Bursa Malaysia, the company had a market capitalisation of RM 2.5 billion in 2014.[5]

Subur Tiasa Holdings

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Subur Tiasa Holdings Berhad was founded in 1988 by Tiong Hiew King with an initial paid-up capital of RM 125.7 million. The company initially went on to manufacture plywood and veneer, followed by sawn timber and laminated board manufacturing.[6]

Rimbunan Sawit Berhad

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The company owns oil palm plantations in Lundu, Selangau, Miri and Marudi.[7] This subsidiary acquired three palm oil mills between 2015 and 2017 located in Miri and Lundu.[8]

RH Petrogas Limited

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In January 1997, a subsidiary of Rimbunan Hijau named Woodsville Private Limited bought a Singaporean company named Tri-M Technologies that provides electronics contract manufacturing services. Woodsville is in turn owned by Surreyville Pte Ltd, an investment holding company under RH group. In 2009, Surreyville and Sharptone Investments owned 50.56% and 28.03% of Tri-M. Tri-M was renamed to Petrogas in the same year.[9]

Other countries

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Papua New Guinea

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Rimbunan Hijau (PNG) Limited was established in 1988.[10]

Equatorial Guinea

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It is the dominant player in the logging sector in Equatorial Guinea by the subsidiary Shimmer International.[11] Rimbunan Hijau was in 1999 also logging contractor for Teodorin Obiang, the agriculture and forests minister of Equatorial Guinea and the son of the president.[12]

Russia

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Rimbunan Hijau Far East Company Limited was set up in 1997 in Russia, involving in timber harvesting and processing. Majority of the timber are exported to China, Japan and South Korea.[13]

Controversies

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Rimbunan Hijau has been heavily criticized by environmental and humanitarian organizations for alleged human rights abuses, ignoring indigenous peoples Human rights, political corruption and negligence of the environment. A recent World Bank report estimates that up to 70 percent of logging in Papua New Guinea is illegal, further adding to the criticism.[14]

Two groups that have made investigations and held protests against the company are Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network. Rimbunan Hijau in turn has threatened to sue Greenpeace for defamation because of its report "The Untouchables - Rimbunan Hijau’s World of Forest Crime and Political Patronage"[3] demanding that the group withdraw the paper. Greenpeace has declined to comply.[15]

Citibank, following a review of its own environmental policies in 2005, declared that it would require the client Rimbunan Hijau to obtain credible, independent, third party certification for its Papua New Guinea operations in the future.[16]

References

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  1. ^ "Rimbunan Hijau Group". AHK Malaysia. Archived from the original on 20 August 2011.
  2. ^ "Papua New Guinea suspends controversial grants of community forest lands to foreign corps". news.mongabay.com. 6 May 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  3. ^ a b The Untouchables - Rimbunan Hijau’s World of Forest Crime and Political Patronage (page 4) Greenpeace. Retrieved on 18 February 2011
  4. ^ "Group Structure". Rimbunan Hijau. Archived from the original on 22 February 2024. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  5. ^ a b Bone, Matt. "Jaya Tiasa : Branching Out". APAC Outlook. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  6. ^ "History of Subur Tiasa". Subur Tiasa Holdings Berhad. Archived from the original on 12 August 2024. Retrieved 25 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Location of Operations". Rimbunan Sawit Berhad. Archived from the original on 31 October 2024. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  8. ^ "Oil mills". Rimbunan Sawit Berhad. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  9. ^ "RH Petrogas Limited". RH Petrogas. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  10. ^ "Rimbunan Hijau (PNG) Limited". Rimbunan Hijau. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
  11. ^ The Untouchables - Rimbunan Hijau’s World of Forest Crime and Political Patronage Greenpeace January 2004 page 11
  12. ^ Global Corruption Report 2011: Climate Change, Corruption A root cause of deforestation and forest degradation Archived 12 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine Patrick Alley (director of Global Witness). page 30
  13. ^ "Rimbunan Hijau Far East Co Ltd". Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  14. ^ "Report: Most PNG logging illegal". CNN. 28 February 2006.
  15. ^ Rimbunan Hijau does battle with Greenpeace, New Zealand Forest Owners Association, 2004-09-16, Retrieved on 5 August 2007.
  16. ^ Citigroup Commended For Enforcing Environmental Policy, CommonDreams, 2005-03-03, Retrieved on 5 August 2007.
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