Eight civil society organizations, both national and international, have submitted amicus curiae documents to the South Jakarta District Court as a form of support for the lawsuit filed by Transformasi untuk Keadilan Indonesia (TuK INDONESIA) against Bank Mandiri. The organizations are BankTrack, Milieudefensie, RimbaWatch, Indonesia Center for Environmental Law (ICEL), Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA), Trend Asia, WALHI National Executive and WALHI Riau Regional Executive. They called for financial institutions to be held accountable for financing projects that have a negative impact on the environment, indigenous peoples and democratic governance.

The lawsuit, dubbed 'Desak Mandiri', has entered the evidentiary stage and will soon proceed to a conclusion hearing. TuK INDONESIA is suing Bank Mandiri for financing PT Agro Nusa Abadi (ANA), a subsidiary of Astra Agro Lestari (AALI), which allegedly operates in Central Sulawesi illegally and violates sustainability principles, including environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects.

Director of TuK INDONESIA, Linda Rosalina, stated that this wave of support confirms that legal action against financial institutions is not a localized issue, but has also received widespread attention from the global community. "The involvement of various organizations with environmental, human rights, sustainable finance, and agrarian reform backgrounds shows that the world is putting in the spotlight the responsibility of banks involved in the chain of environmental damage and agrarian conflict." She added, "Banks have a central role in determining the direction of development. However, they often hide in the curtains once it's revealed the projects they finance have adverse impacts. We filed this lawsuit to challenge that paradigm, that financing is not just about business, but also about justice and sustainability."

When public money is used to finance social conflict

During the last seven years (2017-2024), KPA recorded at least 413 eruptions of agrarian conflicts caused by palm oil plantation operations with an area of one million hectares in 533 villages. Benni Wijaya, Head of KPA's Campaign and Knowledge Management Department emphasized: "This situation is a reflection of the nature of our plantation industry which still uses classic methods, which are expansive and full of land grabbing practices. We found that these patterns are also often used by AALI and their subsidiaries. From 2017 to 2024, the operations of AALI and its eight subsidiaries have caused 17 eruptions of agrarian conflicts with an area of 37,620 hectares in various regions."

According to Benni, Bank Mandiri's financing to PT ANA was reckless and did not use prudential principles in accordance with local Banking Law. This is because PT ANA operates illegally since it cannot prove the legitimacy of its HGU certificate. "This means that Bank Mandiri is part of the actors who cause and prolong agrarian conflicts in Indonesia. This kind of dirty financing should be stopped because it has contributed greatly to the high level of agrarian conflict and inequality of land tenure in Indonesia. This is contrary to the consitution and the 1960 BAL which mandates the state to carry out agrarian reform. Therefore, we fully support TuK INDONESIA's lawsuit because it is in line with efforts to resolve agrarian conflicts."

The trail of AALI's damage is also visible in Riau. Based on Eyes on the Forest (EoF) investigation, WALHI Riau noted that AALI's subsidiary, PT Sari Lembah Subur (PT SLS), is indicated to be operating without forest area release permits and HGU. In addition, the Forest Area Control Task Force (PKH) has confiscated 250 hectares of land owned by PT SLS because the HGU overlaps with the forest area. Meanwhile, other findings show that AALI, located in Rokan Hulu Regency, allegedly committed a violation of developing 331 oil palm plantations in forest areas prior to the issuance of SK 878/Menhut-II/2014, September 29, 2014.

Boy Jerry Even Sembiring, Executive Director of WALHI Riau said, "from these findings it is clear that there is environmental damage and violations of the rights of indigenous and local communities related to land tenure, learning from cases in Riau, this incident can be considered by the panel of judges to give a decision in favor of the environment and provide a legal basis for business entities to anticipate environmental damage." Similar findings were also revealed by WALHI National. Uli Arta Siagian, WALHI National Forest and Plantation Campaign Manager said: "AALI is one company in Indonesia that has contributed greatly to environmental damage, deforestation, agrarian conflicts and human rights violations. For years we have been fighting alongside the people of Central and West Sulawesi demanding that AALI return the community land it has seized, and that it restore the environment damaged by its operations." Uli added that the UN Special Reporter has also stated that AALI's operations in Sulawesi have the potential to violate human rights. Ten international consumer brands have also declared to stop buying from AALI. However, until now AALI has shown no effort to fulfill the demands of the people and WALHI. "Now, it is time for the judge through his decision on TuK INDONESIA's lawsuit against Bank Mandiri to provide justice, by granting TuK INDONESIA's demands. Bank Mandiri must be responsible to the public by stopping lending to bad companies like AALI," said Uli.

Difa Shafira, Head of ICEL's Forestry and Biodiversity Division highlighted the importance of this case as the first lawsuit in Indonesia to hold a bank accountable for its funding of business activities that do not have complete legality, causing massive negative impacts, both ecological and social. Difa stated, "This historic case is a great opportunity for the Panel of Judges to emphasize the responsibility of financial institutions regarding their funding of illegal and environmentally destructive business activities. This case is not just a case between TuK INDONESIA and Mandiri, but this case marks our starting point in fighting all forms of funding and support by financial institutions for many destructive activities." Difa also hopes that the Panel of Judges can decide wisely considering that this case is a major precedent in the future that can play a major role in demanding bank compliance and the Bank's partiality towards the environment.
 
Global consensus: Mandiri lawsuit could set an international precedent

Support from overseas organizations strengthens TuK INDONESIA's position in suing banks. Ola Janus, Banks and Nature Campaign Lead at BankTrack strongly criticized financial institutions for still ignoring the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights more than a decade after they were globally ratified. "This lawsuit goes to the core of corporate accountability. International frameworks like the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights are clear: banks have a responsibility to prevent human rights abuses connected to their financing, even beyond first-tier relationships. Thirteen years after the unanimous adoption of the UNGPs, it is indefensible that many financial institutions still treat their human rights responsibilities as optional. In a sector as deeply tied to human rights risks as palm oil in Indonesia, social and environmental responsibility isn't optional - it's the absolute bare minimum," Ola emphasized.

RimbaWatch, a Malaysian think tank, said that this lawsuit is a strategic step in the fight for climate justice and corporate accountability in the Global South. They emphasize the need for countries in Southeast Asia, like Indonesia and Malaysia, to work together toward their common climate justice goals.  Kuberan Hansrajh Kumaresan and Claudia Nyon Syn Yue of RimbaWatch said, "We believe that this lawsuit will set an important precedent for legal accountability of financial institutions on a global scale. On the question of whether TuK INDONESIA has legal standing to bring this claim, it is crucial that an organisation like TuK INDONESIA is empowered to challenge the actions of financial institutions. Environmental law proceeds on the basis that the environment is of legitimate concern to everyone, and therefore environmental organisations like TuK INDONESIA must have standing to ask a court whether contraventions of law have occurred."

Meanwhile, Danielle van Oijen from Milieudefensie emphasized that the Bank has a social obligation to protect human rights and prevent negative impacts on climate and nature. "The Paris Agreement and the Global Biodiversity Framework emphasize that credit flows must be aligned with climate-resilient development and prioritize harmony with the environment. We support TuK INDONESIA in their historic lawsuit that adds to the global strategic litigation movement to hold financial institutions accountable. We need to continue setting important precedents to fundamentally transform our financial system," said Danielle.

The lawsuit will soon enter its final stage at the South Jakarta District Court. TuK INDONESIA and the eight organizations supporting the lawsuit hope that the judges will not just see this case as an ordinary civil lawsuit, but as a momentum that can set a new standard that financial institutions are also subject to the principles of ecological justice and human rights.

The amicus brief is available via this link.

Press conference documentation can be accessed here.

Watch the full broadcast of the press conference here.