This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on May 5, 2025 - May 11, 2025

WTK Holdings Bhd (KL:WTK) is selling its loss-making subsidiary, Song Logging Co Sdn Bhd, to Huang Qian Wen, who resides in Sibu, for RM23.5 million cash. The Sarawak-based company said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia that the move is to focus on more commercially sustainable and profitable business segments.

Song Logging has been the logging contractor for Perbadanan Perusahaan Kemajuan Kayu Sarawak (Pusaka), or the Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC), for 49 years under an agreement signed in March 1976. Over the decades, both parties have entered into several supplementary agreements, the latest of which was inked last Wednesday (April 30).

Under the logging agreements, according to WTK, Song Logging is the main contractor to fell, extract and harvest all merchantable timber from a forest area covering 114,804ha under the timber licence No T/0518 until March 24, 2030.

Perhaps WTK’s rationale for selling Song Logging makes business sense, given the challenging landscape in the timber industry. Furthermore, STIDC’s timber licence expires in five years.

But why would Qian Wen take over Song Logging? Does she have a different view of the logging contractor’s prospects?

Qian Wen is the daughter of Datuk Seri Huang Tiong Sii, the deputy minister of natural resources and environmental sustainability. Tiong Sii is also Sarikei MP and Repok assemblyman from the Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP).

Wouldn’t a conflict of interest arise even though the deputy minister has no direct involvement in the deal?

According to Companies Commission of Malaysia filings, the father and daughter are the two shareholders of M M Golden (M) Sdn Bhd, which is also a logging contractor.

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