In this interview we examine the allgeations of sexual impropriety which were made against Helmy V- the former school manager of TBI Semarang and TBI Kelapa Gading.

What can you tell us about Helmy V’s sexual misconduct in TBI Semarang?

According to our source, Helmy had been accused of sexually harassing every single female staff member at TBI Semarang. This included inappropriate touching, sexually suggestive remarks and repeated invitations to engage in sexual activity.

What job position were these women filling?

They were all student assistants. Helmy V allegedly sexually harassed every single student assistant in the school. Eventually they made a group complaint to Head Office about his sexual misconduct and an investigation into their allegations was organized.

What was the outcome of this inquiry?

Well the strange thing about the inquiry into the alleged sexual misconduct at TBI Semarang was that it took a month. It was regarded as a bit of an outrage within the school that Helmy was paid a school manager’s wage for an entire month when he didn’t work, having been ordered not to come into the office until the sexual harassment claims had been fully looked into.

Surely it should have been obvious what had happened? I mean, around five different women all report that their boss is talking dirty and touching them- it’s pretty clear what the story is.

Ah, but that’s where things got tricky, because Helmy V. was allegedly a relative of Retty, the then Head of Franchise. According to our information, Retty, with the full knowledge of Ashley and Mariam, had appointed one of her family members as manager of a franchise school. Nepotism made things complicated.

What other factors were at play here?

The sex claims weren’t the only problem where Helmy V. was concerned. He had allegedly also embezzled around Rp 75.000.000 (around $8000) of the marketing budget. In fact he had ‘finished’ the annual marketing budget within a few weeks, causing massive conflict between him and the owner. So not only was there issues between Helmy and the student assistants, the school owner had also accused Helmy of being a criminal.

Nice. Why didn’t the franchise owner just go to the police?

We know from sources within TBI Kelapa Gading and TBI Bekasi that massive financial fraud and tax avoidance was par for the course in TBI franchise schools. We know from our TBI Semarang source that the expat Academic Team Leader did not have a KITAS and was working illegally. We do not have any reason to believe then that the owner of TBI Semarang was an honest fellow, as he had broken his promises to get his expats a KITAS. Who knows if he was paying any more tax than Pauwsan Sutanto? Perhaps he was afraid of having the polisi poking around inside his little TBI franchise.

What was the outcome of Head Office’s investigation into a seemingly open and shut case of sexual misconduct?

They hatched a plan. They are always hatching plans it seems. This one, about which Ashley, Mariam and Retty all knew, involved deceiving Pauwsan Sutanto and Jalaludin Japri- the joint owners of TBI Kelapa Gading. They recommended Helmy V as the first Indonesian school manager of TBI Kelapa Gading.

Could he keep his hands to himself at TBI Kelapa Gading?

No he couldn’t. He seduced one of his own students there.

I think we will need to dedicate a full post to that shameful episode. Let’s stop there.