Report Investigates Malaysian-Linked Companies Involved In Papua New Guinea Rainforest Exploitation

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Papua New Guinea (PNG) is home to one of the world’s last great tropical rainforests, an important ecosystem that stores carbon, supports thousands of species of flora and fauna, and sustains indigenous communities.

However, the country’s forests face threats of excessive logging, controversial licences and exploitation of local landowners from alleged Malaysian-linked timber companies

According to an October 2025 report titled “Malaysia’s Timber Colony: Exposing Malaysia’s Grip Over Papua New Guinea’s Forests”, PNG is the world’s largest tropical log exporter in the world.

The report was published by Malaysian environmental think tank RimbaWatch in collaboration with Swiss environmentalist and human rights activist Bruno Manser Fonds along with the Papua New Guinea Environmental Alliance.

It investigates the role of Malaysian companies and individuals in alleged non-sustainable large-scale forest clearance in PNG through the misuse of Forest Clearing Authorities (FCA). It stated that despite a moratorium on new FCA licences, widespread deforestation and human rights abuses persist.

Based on an analysis mentioned in the report, 97% of all FCA licences are controlled by Malaysian-linked companies.

On page 16 of the report, a table illustrates links between FCAs and Malaysian companies while another table on page 25 presents 79 Malaysians who are allegedly involved in FCA licences for forest clearing in PNG.

“Some of the 79 Malaysian-linked individuals identified have faced allegations of illegal logging, fraud, and other misconduct, and are connected to politically influential families and major Sarawak-based logging firms,” the report said.

FCAs and abuse of human rights

A section of the report revealed findings of human rights abuses that comes with FCA licences, including non-recognition of customary land rights, police intimidation, violence and some environmental damage.

One of the cases presented was an FCA for the Wammy Rural Development Project, which was allegedly issued to a Malaysian-owned company. Reports by Act Now, a United Nations campaign encouraging sustainable action for Sustainable Development Goals, and Jubilee Australia, a non-profit organisation promoting environmental justice, found evidence that the majority of landowners potentially did not consent to the project.

Furthermore, the report documented alleged violence against local communities, such as landowners opposing logging companies being threatened with firearms and locked in a shipping container for up to one week.

Papua New Guineans are angry at Malaysian companies cutting down their forests

The indigenous people of PNG have expressed their frustration towards the companies that have been clearing their forests excessively, threatening the diverse wildlife, ecosystem, and their way of life.

A documentary film by Bruno Monser Fonds titled “STOP The Malaysian Land Grab In Papua New Guinea” highlights the entire logging situation in PNG. In the film, several PNG locals are seen venting their anger at Malaysian companies which threaten their home and natural resources.

“These Malaysians are greedy and selfish, just like what they are doing to our forest. They are getting timber and logging and all this, and what are they doing for us?” a resident of Karapi village said.

The video explained that FCAs are meant to allow the clearing of large areas of forest for agriculture, and to bring development to communities. But instead, the licences are misused for clear-cutting huge areas of rainforest with little evidence of agricultural development.

At least 1.68 million hectares of primary rainforest in PNG are under threat from FCA licences.

In October, RimbaWatch urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to investigate the companies involved in the allegedly unsustainable logging of PNG’s rainforests, MalaysiaKini reported.

RimbaWatch director Adam Farhan referred to the recent report that exposed companies and Malaysians involved in logging operations in PNG through the use of FCAs.

Data published by the PNG Forest Authority, according to the World Rainforest Movement, shows that 20 million cubic centimeters of logs were exported from PNG between 1993 and 2001.

In the last decade, most of the logs have been taken from West New Britain but those forests are now almost entirely gone. The logging companies in PNG, most of which are reported to be Malaysian or Malaysian-linked, are getting most of their logs from Western and Gulf provinces.

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