Bintulu remained a fishing village until 1969 when oil and gas reserves were discovered off the coast.
Since then, Bintulu has become the centre of energy-intensive industries such as a Malaysia LNG plant, a Shell middle distillate synthesis plant, and a Bintulu combined cycle power plant.
The economy has also expanded into oil palm and forest plantations, palm oil processing, wood-waste processing, and cement manufacturing.
The port of Bintulu is the busiest in Sarawak. The town is also a gateway to the Samalajau Industrial Park.
Since the opening up of the Bintulu–Miri road in the 1970s, large-scale plantations of oil palm and cocoa have developed in rural areas of Bintulu Division.
The Bintulu Division has been designated as a Planted Forests Zone (PFZ) by the Sarawak government since 1998.
As of June 30, 2011, a total of 124,618ha have been planted with acacia trees.
The Bintulu Port Authority (BPA) was established in 1981. It started port operations in 1983 at Tanjung Kidurong.
Following a privatisation exercise, Bintulu Port Sdn Bhd (BPSB) was founded on Dec 23, 1992 and commenced operations on Jan 1, 1993. BPA is currently responsible for regulatory exercises and security of the port.
The incumbent MP for Bintulu is Tiong King Sing, president of PDP. He first won the seat in the 1999 election, defeating Chiew Chiu Sing of DAP.
Chiew held the seat for only one term, from 1995 to 1999. He turned giant-killer in the 1995 polls, defeating SNAP strongman and president James Wong Kim Min. Chiew’s victory sent Wong into political retirement.
Although Chiew lost in subsequent elections for the parliamentary seat of Bintulu, he has been successful in the state elections.
Chiew is now in his third term as the state assemblyman for Kidurong, one of three state seats in the Bintulu parliamentary constituency.
Bintulu has been a traditional SNAP seat. The longest-serving Bintulu MP is former SNAP treasurer-general Ting Ling Kiew, who served for four consecutive terms from 1974 to 1990.
In GE13, Tiong successfully defended his seat against DAP’s newcomer John Brian Anthony, by a majority of 7,433 votes. He polled 26,458 votes while John Brian garnered 19,025.
Come GE14, the PDP president is expected to defend his seat and all signs seem to indicate another victory for him.
Not only is Tiong a successful entrepreneur, he is also a vocal parliamentarian.
He has ticked off ministers in Parliament on several occasions for their lackadaisical attitude towards some development projects in his constituency.
Because he dares to speak up in Parliament, Tiong has become a popular figure in Bintulu and he is said to have earned even the respect of his political adversaries in the opposition.
In 2008, Tiong courted controversy when he organised a so-called study tour to Taiwan for BN backbenchers at the time when opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said he had enough MPs to form the government on Sept 16 that year.
Tiong was the chairman of the BN Backbenchers Club at the time.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/10/27/11th-msia-plan-govt-plans-4-new-projects-in-bintulu/