A COMPANY closely linked to a family whose members have donated to the Conservatives and Better Together has faced scrutiny from the UN over allegations of land grabbing and human rights abuses in Indonesia.
Jardine Matheson – a Hong Kong-based firm with Scottish roots – was contacted last October by UN officials seeking “clarification” about allegations raised against another firm it ultimately controls, Astra Agro Lestari (AAL), which produces palm oil in the island of Sulawesi.
The UN’s letter details accusations that AAL operates without necessary permits and has failed to obtain consent to cultivate Indigenous communities’ land. It also documented alleged intimidation of community activists by company employees.
In response to the allegations, AAL says it is implementing a three-year action plan to address issues, developed alongside a third-party environmental consultancy. Jardine Matheson says it has full confidence in AAL’s strategy and allegations against it are “unsubstantiated”.
But while the UN officials wrote that they welcomed the plan and did not want to “prejudge” the accuracy of the accusations, they also noted allegations “keep being raised” against AAL. Jardine Matheson was warned that it may be failing to implement adequate due diligence measures to ensure it meets UN principles on business and human rights.
Jardine Matheson was founded in 1832 by Scots merchants William Jardine and James Matheson who built their wealth on the opium trade. The pair have been described by eminent historian William Dalrymple as the 1830s’ “most ruthless and profitable drug runners”.
The company has been controlled by the Keswick family – who married in through Jardine’s niece – for five generations. Family members own land in Scotland and have donated to political organisations including the Conservatives, Better Together and Vote Leave.
In total, members of the Keswick family have donated more than £2 million to political causes since 2001, according to Electoral Commission data. Beneficiaries included Boris Johnson and former Scottish leader and Dumfriesshire MP David Mundell.
Many of the donations were given by former Jardine Matheson boss and Spectator owner Henry Keswick – who died in November 2024 just weeks after giving £30,000 to Robert Jenrick (below) during the Tory leadership campaign. But other family members, including current Jardine Matheson board member Adam Keswick, are also donors.
Human rights campaigners have urged the Tories to “review” all further donations linked to Jardine Matheson until it has addressed the concerns about AAL.
The UN letter, sent on October 9, 2024, was addressed to “Mr Keswick”. Ben Keswick has served as executive chairman of Jardine Matheson since 2019. The same letter was sent to AAL, as well as the Indonesian and Chinese governments.
Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil, a commodity found in consumer products from chocolate to shampoo.
The expansion of the industry in the country – home to nearly 300 million people – has been accompanied by conflict over land between companies on one side and rural communities and Indigenous peoples on the other. There are estimated to be thousands of these land disputes active nationwide.
The UN letters outline “alleged violations”, some dating back decades, many of which were sparked by disputes over land and whether AAL and its subsidiaries have required permits and consent to operate.
In the 2000s, one local AAL subsidiary is alleged to have taken over community land through the use of violence, including “indiscriminate shooting”, with the help of the police. Another is accused of “uprooting crops and destroying tools” of indigenous farmers, having already cut down the crops they relied on for food without consent.
In a more recent instance, in December 2023, AAL staff allegedly visited two women human rights defenders and pushed them to sign a document stating there was no land conflict in their area. This visit allegedly took place after the women had appeared in a video produced by an environmental group speaking about the impacts of AAL’s operations and calling for the return of community land.
The women perceived this as an “act of intimidation” but AAL said the visit had been “misconstrued” and was an effort to “straighten out” a “rumour in the community” that the company would arrest those involved in the video.
Two community leaders who travelled to London in May 2024 to meet with representatives of Jardine Matheson and AAL reported that while they were away, their families were visited by company representatives inquiring about their whereabouts.
While the rapporteurs said they “do not wish to prejudge the accuracy of these allegations”, they expressed “serious” concerns about a number of points.
These included allegations about intimidation and criminalisation of “environmental human rights defenders and Indigenous and community leaders,” the rapporteurs wrote.
“These practices are prone to have a grave chilling effect on their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” the letter continues.
AAL said it “does not use violence against communities, and moreover has no security personnel in place to carry out such activities”.
Major consumer goods companies, including giant multinational Nestlé, have suspended sourcing palm oil from AAL due to concerns about its human rights and environmental record. Nestlé said in 2022 that the move came after an independent assessment of AAL.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund – often seen as the barometer of ethical investing – also cut ties with Jardine Matheson in 2024 due to concerns about the risk posed to the habitat of endangered orangutans by a gold mine operated by another of its subsidiary companies in Sumatra.
That move was based on fears that the Martabe gold mine could threaten the last remaining habitat of the Tapanuli orangutan, pushing it closer to extinction.
‘LEGACY OF COLONIALISM’
Friends of the Earth (FOE) US, which has produced several reports on AAL’s activities alongside Indonesian environmental group WALHI, said concerns raised were “emblematic of the palm oil industry’s operations”.
“Too often, palm oil companies forcibly take communities’ lands without their consent, devastating local livelihoods and ways of life,” FOE’s forest and lands campaigner, Gaurav Madan, told The Ferret.
Madan added that Jardine Matheson’s response to the allegations against AAL had been “largely cosmetic and disappointing”. He continued: “The dominant model of industrial palm oil production is predicated on land theft, labour abuse and rampant deforestation”, a model which is a “lasting legacy of colonialism”.
Neil Cowan, Amnesty International’s programme director in Scotland, said the group had investigated human rights abuses linked to palm oil production in Indonesia and found that forced and child labour were “systemic”.
“Under international human rights standards for business, Jardine Matheson and AAL have clear responsibilities to take measures to ensure their business activities don’t contribute to human rights violations,” Cowan added.
He said the Conservatives should review all donations linked to Jardine Matheson “until it can be shown that the company has addressed the serious concerns being raised”.
AAL said it was the “duty” of the Indonesian government to respond to the investigation rather than the firm itself, which it claimed was in line with UN protocols.
The Indonesian government has defended AAL, claiming it complies with legal standards and has cultivation rights for the “majority” of land it owns.
“Regarding human rights and environmental concerns raised by certain non-governmental organisations, AAL has made concerted efforts to address these issues, including with third-party facilitation to foster dialogue,” a letter from a government official to the UN reads.
“However, despite multiple attempts, the company continues to face challenges in establishing meaningful communication, primarily due to a lack of responsiveness from the said organisations.”
The official claimed: “Astra Agro is fully committed to upholding human rights policies and asserts that it is not engaged in any form of land grabbing or violations of human rights.”
The Indonesian government has been accused of being a spokesperson for AAL rather than an impartial regulator.
The company’s action plan, published in summer 2024, is making progress in redressing grievances and addressing ongoing conflict in Sulawesi, AAL says. The plan was developed alongside a “third-party” environmental consultancy which had previously investigated the allegations against AAL.
A spokesperson added: “We take these allegations seriously and are handling them carefully in a transparent manner.
“We want to take this opportunity once again to remind all stakeholders from civil society that our door remains open, and we are willing to sit down and discuss any and all concerns without any preconditions. We have made this offer frequently over recent months, and remain hopeful of a positive response.”
Friends of the Earth has previously described the third-party investigation as “one-sided” and claims AAL’s attempts to “paint a rosy picture” of company-community relations “obscure” the reality of the situation in Sulawesi.
Jardine Matheson pointed The Ferret to AAL’s response to the allegations and said they were “unsubstantiated”. The Tories and the UN Human Rights Commission have both been contacted for comment.
