Tiong Hiew King

Tan Sri Datuk Tiong Hiew King Template:Small (Template:Zh; Hokchew Romanized: Diŏng Hiēu-kĭng; 18 March 1934 – 11 November 2025) was a Malaysian businessman who was the founder and chairman of the Rimbunan Hijau Group, a timber company founded in 1975. Its overseas timber operations in Papua New Guinea is the largest in that country. He also had interests in logging operations in Russia.

Tan Sri Datuk Tiong resided in Sibu, a town in Sarawak, of Borneo island that is part of Malaysia. Template:As of, with a net worth of about US$1.1 billion,<ref name="forbesrichlist">Forbes.com</ref> Tiong was ranked by Forbes as the 1,999th richest person in the world.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Family

Tiong's family is the second largest private landowner in New Zealand. To be confirmed.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Influence in media

Tiong's Rimbunan Hijau Group operates Sin Chew Daily and Guang Ming Daily, two of the major Chinese national dailies in Malaysia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They also operate The National Daily in Papua New Guinea and Ming Pao Holdings Ltd in Hong Kong. He was 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.<ref>Chin-Huat Wong, "Malaysian media mogul's big China bet", Asia Times Online. 15 February 2007.</ref>

Media Chinese International Limited (MCIL) is the holding company for all Tiong's media assets formed after the merger of Ming Pao Enterprise Corporation Limited, Sin Chew Media Corporation Berhad and Nanyang Press Holdings Berhad.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2018, Tiong stepped down from the position of executive chairman of MCIL to take up a non-executive, non-independent directorship in the group.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Influence in local politics

Back home in Sibu, his family are members of the ruling Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP), a major party of the ruling coalition government in Sarawak. Tiong's younger brother Tiong Thai King has been the Member of Parliament of the Lanang Parliamentary Constituency in Sibu from 1995 to 2013.

Knighthood controversy

In 2009, Tiong was awarded an honorary knighthood of the Order of the British Empire.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Following his knighting Environmental groups around the world called for him to be stripped of his title, claiming that his success was built on the destruction of tropical forests by his company, Rimbunan Hijau.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Illness and death

In April 2017, Tiong's family confirmed that he was hospitalised after suffering a stroke.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Tiong died in Sibu, Sarawak on 11 November 2025, at the age of 91.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

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  • File:Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia - PSM.svg Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (PSM) – Tan Sri (1999)<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

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  • File:MY-SAR Order of the Star of the Hornbill (Bintang Kenyalang) - 3. Commander (PGBK).svg Commander of the Order of the Star of Hornbill Sarawak (PGBK) – Datuk (1990)<ref name=":1" />

Foreign honours

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  • File:Order of the British Empire (Civil) Ribbon.png Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE)

External links

• Being well connected goes a long way in Malaysia – Malaysia Today: MT-News