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Rimbunan Hijau tower built in 2014
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| Company type | Private Limited Company |
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| Industry | Forestry, Plantations, Media, ICT, Hospitality |
| Headquarters | 2°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] |
| Website | RH 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]
The group's core business activities[4] are:
According to Greenpeace Rimbunan Hijau is the dominant player in the logging sector in Equatorial Guinea by the subsidiary Shimmer International.[6] 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.[7]
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.[8]
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.[9]
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.[10]
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