There is one episode which occurred around this time which we have not reported for 8 months: Immigration conducted a raid on TBI Kelapa Gading in March 2012. Why did we wait so long to report on this incident?

The basic answer is because we need to protect the confidentiality of our sources. While we had a massive amount of email evidence that Luke Preece was snitching on Matthew and Colm to HR, for example, and that he was campaigning to get rid of rivals such as Monica and Retty, we knew nothing about Binsar’s grifting and stealing until informants contacted us. The same went for Jalan Riau. We had no idea how dysfunctional the school was under Scott Martin until teachers contacted us and told us what was going on. We did not print the emails from the Riau teachers until these teachers had left, so as to protect the informants from the vengeful Preece.

It is now well and truly safe for us to report on the raid as we no longer have any informants within TBI Kelapa Gading. Even the student sources had long since left, fed up with the sloppy standards and unprofessional teaching. But it is useful to report on the raid now, as it was part of the chaos which caused TBI Kelapa Gading to collapse under Nunu’s inept and dishonest leadership; regular readers will remember that he told teachers that he had a CELTA.

TBI Kelapa Gading has 4 storeys (the fourth one is used mostly as a warehouse these days). From there a set of stairs ascends to the roof, where smokers have been known to light up. During the March 2012 raid, the casual teacher who was working illegally fled to the roof of the building and evaded authorities. News of this raid got back to Menara Kuningan and even Bandung very fast and it was widely known within a day or so of its happening. This is likely because of A***, who was moved to Menara Kuningan around this time by Luke Preece, after being lured to Kelapa Gading on the false promise that Nunu would be able to get him a KITAS- even without an English degree. (Like most of Preece’s promises, this one proved empty and A*** left KG within two weeks of his arrival).

By June 2012, not one expat teacher at TBI Kelapa Gading had the correct degree and the school did not have one sponsored expat teacher. While every expat had a KITAS when I was manager in 2010 and 2011 (that was 4 expats usually, including myself), the current management has decided to go the illegal route 100% and just make do with a team of expats popping in for a bit of cash after their real jobs at Penabur or elsewhere. 

As elsewhere within this sick and ailing ESL chain, standards are slumping and no one really takes it very seriously these days.

End of Part Three