Looks like Tony Blair is the broker securing Emirati and Chinese money to destroy the Borneo rainforest

Who funds the ex-PM cashing in on the death of democracy?

Tony Blair has been in the limelight recently having had the audacity to offer himself up as a mediator between Israel and Palestine in the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people. Despite no official appointment, an Israeli outlet reported Blair had been in talks with Netanyahu to discuss the voluntary resettlement of the residents of Gaza, which he denied. His latest interest in the Middle East continues a trend which began with concocting an illegal war in Iraq with George Bush, who un-ironically appointed Blair the Middle East special envoy after his premiership. Many wonder how the man is out in the wild making undisclosed millions instead of before The Hague pleading guilty.

It’s remarkable the former Prime Minister had the time to think about Palestine given he’s been busy securing Chinese and Emirati investment for an Indonesian project set to destroy the precious Borneo rainforest. Local campaigners such as Sarawak Report have been sounding the alarm about the disastrous impact on the local ecosystems—and the foreign money propping up the project.

In a story that encompasses the complexity of a world mired in crisis and corruption, Indonesia has spent the past four years trying to drum up foreign investment for its proposed “eco-city” in the heart of the Kalimantan jungle. Nusantara, a $31 billion project, will be declared Indonesia’s new capital upon completion. Why?

Because Jakarta is sinking.

A sinking city and an eco-city

The desire to move Indonesia’s capital from the island to Java to the island of Borneo is being pushed by President Joko Wido, known as Jokowi. In 2017, his administration awakened a dormant motion to move the capital, formally ratifying the plan in August 2019. Jokowi, a carpenter, who was widely praised when elected as a beacon of democracy in a nation which had struggled to shake off the shackles of political dynasties, has said the idea proudly harks back to the beginning of Indonesian democracy. President Sukarno, the nation’s first democratically elected leader, was the first to broach the idea of moving the capital from Jakarta. He was later deposed in a CIA-backed coup which killed one million Indonesians.

Jakarta is a frightening example of a city under threat from the climate crisis, with experts suggesting one third of its could be underwater by 2050. It’s also, quite simply, full, ranked as the world’s most polluted city in 2023. Yet, it’s been the beating heart civic engagement in a notoriously undemocratic democracy, housing protests which have toppled regimes, changed laws and jailed politicians. Experts warn moving the capital will fracture that critical civic engagement, putting politics at a safe distance from dissenting civilians. Such warning is prophetic, as it was announced that Nusantara will be governed by a Capital City Authority, elected by the President. The rest of the country is governed by democratically-elected mayors and governors.

This slide into authoritarianism couldn’t have a more beautiful backdrop. Nusantara is being built in the heart of the Borneo rainforest, the oldest and most biodiverse region on earth. In a terrible irony representing the madness of eco-modernism, the rainforest in Kalimantan is being logged to make way for the eco-city. Blair, an ambassador for the project which claims to be Net Zero despite destroying the rainforest, seemingly forgot the part where logging threatens biodiversity when he proudly stated: “Nusantara is situated in a beautiful part of the world that is rich in biodiversity, and it's going to be a sign of modern living that is sustainable and protects our environment.”

But autocratic sustainable eco-cities which protect our environments by destroying them come at a cost. No matter, when you have autocratic friends—or rather, a connections-for-hire globalist who has made it his life’s work to befriend autocrats since stepping down as the democratically-elected leader of the world’s fifth-largest economy.

Connections-for-cash

Blair joined the “ecological disaster” project’s steering committee in January 2020, alongside Japanese businessman Masayoshi Son (who has since pulled out) and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who supposedly “shares chemistry” with Blair. Blair worked closely with leaders across the Gulf States as the Quartet peace envoy, with The Times revealing last summer that his Institute continued to advise the Saudi government after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist critical of the Saudi regime. Blair’s institute is still on the Saudi payroll.

Was it Blair, then, who pitched the eco-city investment to MBZ?

In March 2021, the United Arab Emirates pledged a $10 billion investment through the Indonesia Investment Authority, the nation’s sovereign wealth fund. Reaffirming their investment in 2022, the UAE noted only a part of their investment would go towards Nusantara, with the remaining unspecified amount invested in strategic sectors, such as health, education, and food.

These are critical sectors for the security of any country as we move towards decades of increasing political and climate instability. Just two months ago leaked documents before COP28 showed Saudi Arabia was concocting strategies to get the continent of Africa “hooked” on petrol. Is the investment in critical Indonesian sectors the UAE’s attempt to buy outright influence in a region with less political power to resist?

Commentators certainly fear that’s exactly what China is doing, with Nusantara even being dubbed the “New Beijing”. China has used this same political strategy to buy influence and even outright political control in democratically-weak regions across Africa and the Pacific. Home to huge swathes of rainforest—or timber, as capitalists would call it—China has had its eye on Borneo for decades and, finally, it has found a Blair-sized way in. In October 2022, it was Blair who promoted China and the UAE to Jokowi when they were discussing securing investment for Nusantara.

The concerns of Chinese involvement in Nusantara’s construction is nigh-on confirmed by plans for a Chinese state-owned cement plant in the city’s vicinity. The plant, owned by Hongshi Group, will employ 13,000 people and be capable of producing 8 million tons of cement per year, no doubt supplying the cement for the city. But, given the Indonesian cement sector is already over-producing by a staggering 40%, plans for this immense plant raise questions about the Chinese government’s influence over the plans for Nusantara—and their possible cannibalisation of Indonesian industry.

Unfortunately, sacrificing Indonesia’s sectors for power or money or whatever it is autocrats desire is on trend for Jokowi, who began life as a citizen of democracy but has since planted the seeds of his own political dynasty, appointing a series of family members to top government jobs. Shockingly, whilst he hasn’t announced his support for the next presidential candidates, he rehabilitated the image of former military commander and anti-democratic reform candidate Prabowo who campaigned in the last two elections.

But Indonesia’s descent into authoritarianism should pose no problem for Blair, who has made a lucrative career out of washing the images of some of the world’s most notorious regimes. Tellingly, despite Nusantara’s struggle to attract foreign investment, Blair stays the course, alongside the UAE and China. In fact, in October 2023 he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Indonesia on behalf of his think tank, the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI), to build a “research and development centre” in the future city.

A huge investment, no doubt, yet Blair hasn’t said who’s coughing up the cash. Could it be China, who he visited not three days prior, seemingly to discuss Labour’s relationship with the Chinese?

Blair’s Hold On Britain

Despite leaving office in 2007, a formal statement released after Blair’s visit by the Chinese claimed China’s top diplomat used the meeting to call for stronger ties with the Labour Party. According to the statement, “Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Blair on Monday in Beijing that the Communist Party is prepared to boost its relationship with Labour.”

The meeting flew mostly under the journalistic radar, probably because Blair is a private individual and not a representative of the British government, but raises huge questions about the role of such individuals supposedly committed to spreading the word of democracy doing so without being elected. Whilst TBI is cooking up policy for British politics—and has more than doubled its earnings in the past two years, no doubt a signal the global elite think Labour will return at the next election—it is unclear if Tony Blair now represents Labour at such meetings. Much like his clients buy influence abroad, Blair’s foreign connections could be buying influence at home.

Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, has been deeply criticised for adopting watered-down Tory policies in his bid to seduce the centre. Is Tony Blair’s political gallivanting a watered-down mimic of PM Sunak’s laughable decision to bring back Cameron as a Lord?

Starmer has certainly let the man who helped start an illegal war closer to politics than most of us are comfortable with, with he and senior members of his party attending a TBI Future of Britain event last summer which promised to “address the challenges the country faces”. The Future of Britain programme is designed to restore the “centre ground” of British politics and is defined by its “pragmatic” agenda (not like clearing a rainforest to build an eco-city). The institute has produced numerous policy initiatives directed at influencing the direction of Labour policy.

But if Blair is influencing Britain, who is influencing Blair? While not legally mandated, TBI has refused to disclose many of its clients, donors and connections. Unsurprising, really, for a man whose moral compass points East.

Blair the Broker

Blair’s special relationships with China and the Gulf States were revealed in 2016 when leaked emails obtained from the 1MDB PetroSaudi files, linked to the biggest financial scandal in history, revealed the client base of Blair’s then-venture, Tony Blair Associates (TBA). Blair’s shady business structure. The emails also revealed the complex structure of TBA had worked to obscure Blair’s status as its sole ultimate beneficiary.

Back in 2010, Blair was charging PetroSaudi $65,000 a month (plus a 2% commission on any contracts netted) as an undisclosed consultant to the fledgling outfit, which had just landed a $300 million windfall in return for fronting Jho Low and Prime Minister Najib’s first billion dollar heist from Malaysia’s 1MDB. You can read all about this scandal on Sarawak Report.

The money was being channelled through a network of companies which all traded under TBA. When pressed on whether the ex-PM himself was the actual employee in this arrangement, TBA staff members assured PetroSaudi’s lawyer that Blair was indeed the sole ultimate beneficiary of all the related companies and would perform the duties directly and personally for the cash.

So, what services did Blair perform?

In return for the payments, which continued for some months, Blair offered and delivered introductions for the company to various influential Chinese figures whom courting in the course of several visits. This was whilst simultaneously conducting his role as the Middle East peace envoy.

It is clear from the leaked email dialogues that China was interested in the PetroSaudi connection, given the potential channel to influential decision makers in the Middle East. After all, the co-owner of the company was none other than Prince Turki bin Abdullah, a son of the then King of Saudi Arabia. Blair’s Middle East role clearly provided unique high level contacts with some of the world’s wealthiest investors that were of interest to China.

Chinese investment through its Road and Belt policy into the oil rich Gulf was burgeoning at that time, driven by the determination by the super power to increase its influence throughout the region, purchasing major new sources of oil and funding construction.

But the Gulf states were traditionally aligned to Western economies. Whilst buying oil fields showed commitment to the Gulf’s fossil fuel interests, there was surely still a risk of such moves upsetting the USA, who considers China to be enemy number one. Having a sleek, USA-friendly globalist vouching for them would certainly smooth over any concerns.

Was TBA in the business of providing such a service alongside the charitable agenda proclaimed by Mr Blair’s concurrent roles and commitments? Certainly, his growing connections with China were less easily explained in the context of his various mission statements on world peace, religious extremism and climate change.

An analysis by the Guardian of that period pointed to how Blair, who had visited China just five times during his lengthy premiership and the tricky handover of Hong Kong, was to step up his presence impressively after stepping down from office in 2007. Following a visit where he earned £200,000 for a speech in the industrial city of Dongguan, the newspaper spotted a turning point in how he viewed the rising power

During ensuing period, as the Guardian recorded in 2016, Blair visited China more than two dozen times. One reason given was the expansion of his Faith Foundation whose charitable mission was “to provide the practical support required to help prevent religious prejudice, conflict and extremism” and another to pursue his mission to combat climate change.

Yet in August 2010 he found time during signing a partnership agreement between Peking University and his Faith Foundation for meetings with the Chinese oil giants CNPC–who bought the Abu Dhabi oil field in 2014—and China National Offshore Oil Corporation, as well as China’s supreme economic council, and the National Development and Reform Commission.

Not-For-Profit, For Power

Such exposures, questioning the cash Blair was receiving for private consultancy work, alongside his continuing public roles (reportedly for countries like Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Columbia, Rwanda, Albania and Azerbaijan and entities like JP Morgan in negotiating loans for Gaddafi’s Libya) appeared to prompt a reset.

In May 2015 he announced he would quit his formal Middle East envoy role, whilst explaining he remained “fully committed to assisting the international community in its work with Israel and the Palestinians to bring about progress on the two-state solution.” He could “best support these efforts through working with the key regional players, the USA, the EU and others, without any formal role.”

In September 2016 there was a further announcement that the former Prime Minister had chosen to close his lucrative consultancy in favour of his not-for-profit work and would gift TBA’s “substantial reserves” towards that end. The ex-PM elaborated that he would retain “a small number of personal consultancies for my income, but 80 per cent of my time will be pro bono on the not-for-profit side.”

These plans were refined yet again two months later with the setting up of the Tony Blair Institute, trading under the name of Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI). The organisation now boasts offices in over 30 countries with its teams described as “embedded, working directly with political leaders and governments to implement reforms”, raking in over £122 million last year.

But the Tony Blair Institute can’t seem to rid itself of Tony Blair Associates, given several of its known clients and donor governments show little interest in its proclaimed objectives of reform, change or enhancing social justice. Perhaps because the Institute cannot rid itself of Blair, who sources claim promoted the Abu Dhabi bid to purchase the floundering Daily Telegraph, the key opinion-forming paper of Britain’s Conservative party voters, a bid that former MI6 chief Richard Dearlove described as a major security threat to the nation.

Another firm connection with Abu Dhabi comes through the Israeli linked US billionaire Thomas Kaplan. Kaplan is an old university friend of Blair’s top advisor both in government and business, Jonathan Powell, and has a record of extremely close relations with the autocratic leader of the UAE, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan (MBZ).

Indeed, the US entrepreneur has described his relationship with MBZ as “closer than with anyone besides his wife” and played a key role in the hardline alliance to counter perceived rapprochement with Iran, and in developing the Abraham Accords between Israel and the Gulf. The Tony Blair Institute also claims Blair holds a “publicly recognised role” in cementing the accords in its 2022 financial statements.

The apparent dissonance between promoting a reform led platform and whilst working with repressive regimes is being explained by some TBI staffers in African countries who have explained to journalists the view of their organisation: democracy has failed in Africa and the only successful states are in the Gulf which show stability, permanence and prosperity.

Democracy seems to be failing everywhere—but why help get it on its feet when you can cash in on its demise?

© Rachel Donald