In the current (seventh) season of the American TV show ‘Dexter’, about a vigilante serial killer, there was an interesting scene which reminds us of Mariam Kartikatresni’s recent conduct at TBI Malang.

In the scene a Russian Mafia boss places a gun in the hand of a man he wants dead and tells him to write a suicide note and then shoot himself. Why would anyone agree to such a bad deal? Well, the Russian mafia don promises to execute the man’s family as well if he doesn’t. The man writes the suicide note (in tears) and then pulls the trigger.

This is almost exactly what Mariam and Luke tried to get away with at TBI Malang in recent weeks. Both Luke and Mariam called the school manager (who is highly respected by many of his collegaues and the JV partner) and told him to ‘resign’. They told him he should just resign and tell people it was ‘his own idea’. They told him they didn’t want him in 2013 and he had better just resign and hand control of TBI Malang over to them. Our informants in TBI Malang and MCE had told us no reasons were given for the decision. There was no real rationale given: it was simply suggested that he should resign because of ‘efficiency’. What might have been meant by this vague term ‘efficiency’ was never explained.

The JV partner was not even consulted about this strange instruction: ‘You will resign and then tell people it was your decision’. You will write a suicide note and then shoot yourself. The JV partner was already heartily sick of TBI’s lack of communication and professionalism and for them, this was the last straw.

The school manager in question had secured TBI its biggest ever contract. This huge contract with an Indonesian tobacco giant was the biggest ever contract TBI had won at any branch. The JV partner already thought that Luke and Mariam were horribly unprofessional and thought that the school manager, who had won them massive corporate contracts worth many times his yearly salary, was their greatest asset. The JV was infuriated that TBI Head Office hadn’t even shown them the common courtesy to consult with them about the issue of the school manager’s position and went ahead and unilterally decided to pressure him to ‘resign’. Mariam’s Mafia tactics disgusted and appalled MCE, the JV partner, and their representatives flew to Jakarta and told Mariam in person how little they thought of her. They also told them that they’d had enough of the cheap TBI circus and terminated the contract.

So if Luke or Mariam try to tell you that this break-up is good, or their idea or anyone’s fault but their own, you know the truth. This whole disaster is the handiwork of two of the most malicious, dishonest and repulsively immoral managers ever to darken the halls of a school.