Did David Bradbury ever offer any proof that Ashley Platts hated gay people?

Not as such. He did say that Ashley had formerly been in the military and that the British military was a very homophobic institution. But the main point he made was that Ashley Platts had never been married and that he thought that Ashley was really a closet homosexual himself. He said that he had seen Ashley trying to pick up a waria one night in a bar. David’s theory was that Ashley Platts was in crisis about his own sexual identity.

Luke Preece once offered me a story on a similar theme. Luke told me that he had once made a reference to menstrual blood in a coordination meeting and Ashley Platts had told him that it was inappropriate and off-colour. Luke saw this as proof that Ashley Platts was not heterosexual as he said, “Any heterosexual man has experience of menstrual blood and would not have been offended.” What do you say about these comments?

(Shakes his head in disbelief.) I think it is totally bizarre.

Would you care to explain this opinion?

I think that the parallel between feeling comfortable talking about menstrual blood in a business meeting and homosexuality bizarre.

Would you feel comfortable talking about periods in a business meeting?

No. But I’m gay, so that makes sense in Luke’s world, doesn’t it?

Have you ever heard another straight man besides Luke Preece mention periods in a business meeting?

No.

Do you believe that Ashley Platts objecting to discussion of menstrual cycles in a business meeting proves he is subject to homoerotic urges?

Of course not. It is totally ridiculous. Presuming the incident even happened, I think Ashley was right to suggest it was inappropriate. Perhaps he has better manners than Luke.

Do you believe David Bradbury that he saw Ashley chatting up a waria in a bar one night?

I have no idea whether it is true or not. I have no idea why he would mention it if it wasn’t true, but who knows.

It strikes me as highly unlikely that Ashley Platts would have picked up awaria if David Bradbury was in the vicinity, even if he was so inclined. What’s your take?

I see your point. I think he claimed to have caught him off guard.

Do you regard David Bradbury as a truthful source of information generally?

Not especially. I think David’s main goal in social situations is to impress others with his cleverness and wit, and he doesn’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Do you care what Ashley Platts’s sexual orientation is?

No it’s none of my business. I couldn’t care less and I was never making comments about it either. It was David and Luke who kept trying to convince me Ashley wasn’t straight. I have nothing but David’s word that Ashley isn’t straight and he may have been saying it out of spite. He certainly has a nasty streak.

Do you think it is fair that openly gay managers are repeatedly told that there is a Senior Manager in the company who is openly hostile to gay people for whatever reason and may be out to ‘get them’ like he had gotten David?

No I don’t think it is fair. But David and Luke were always creating this sense of insecurity by talking in this way.

Did you ever see David and Ashley chatting in a friendly, congenial manner in your time with the company?

To be honest, Ashley wasn’t really friendly or congenial with anybody else in my experience.

He was fawning to Ibu Mariam surely?

Yes, that’s true. That goes without saying.

Who else do you perceive that he was close with?

Luke definitely. Chris Needham was his BFF (best friend forever), but he washed his hands off him once Chris had failed totally. He strikes me as very disloyal.

Do you believe that Ashley Platts deliberately destroyed David Bradbury’s career with the company due to homophobia or internalized homophobia?

No I don’t. If Ashley Platts was that homophobic why did I become the school manager of two different schools when I am gay?

Was Ashley on the interview panel either time you became school manager?

There was only ever one interview panel, and he was certainly on that.

Did you ever know Ashley Platts to try and get heterosexual (straight) school managers fired?

Yes. He actually did get R** D****, the school manager of TBI Bogor, fired. Ashley came into the coordination meeting and reported that he had successfully convinced the school owner to fire him a couple of weeks before.

Would you say that his hostility was directed towards all other ex-pat managers rather than just gay ones?

Yes. That’s what I believe to be the case.

What do you make of David Bradbury’s claims that it was only Ashley’s closet homosexuality, perhaps expressing itself in the form of hatred of open gays, which stopped David from becoming a success at TBI?

I think it was more likely David’s big mouth and history of performing poorly in important roles which stopped him getting anywhere. That’s what Luke always said and that fits with the evidence. When David and R** ran the Academic Policy department, nothing ever came out of it. I know David’s big mouth was infamous in TBI too, which didn’t help his cause.

My perception is that David Bradbury really did hate Ashley Platts. He once told me that TBI had never been the same since Platts had become influential in the company. Do you agree?

I have no doubt that he hated Ashley Platts. He never once spoke well of him to me.

You were close with Luke Preece for quite a period before you realized what kind of person he really was. What was Luke’s opinion of David Bradbury?

He liked him personally but thought he had no future with the company.

And why was that?

Because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut and he had blown it when he was in the academic unit.

Why did David Bradbury stay with TBI for so long if he had ‘no future with the company’? What was in it for him?

Because he had been there so long, his salary had been increased incrementally the whole time and he was earning just over Rp 20.000.000 by the time I was Actel. This was more than most school managers. It was a very cushy deal.

Did David ever apply for a school manager position?

Not to my knowledge. Not while I was with the company certainly.

Luke got a job for Scott Martin at Pasar Kaliki even after he failed at Jalan Riau. Surely Luke could have pulled some strings with a franchise owner if Bradbury wanted to be School Manager at a Franchise school. Do you think it’s possible that David didn’t want to be a school manager?

It’s certainly possible. He was getting more money doing what he was doing than most school managers. He may have concluded it wasn’t worth all the extra work.

I have heard it said that David Bradbury ‘knows where all the TBI skeletons are buried’. Do you have any idea what is meant by this claim?

David Bradbury was very free with embarrassing and compromising information about TBI managers, former employees and even current employees.