The ability to make accurate predictions is important in the sciences as a means of testing different theories. The people who believed in a ‘Flat Earth’ were proven wrong when Magellan circumnavigated the globe. The same applies in other fields. Keynesian economists seem to have had a better time of it in the current Euro crisis than the pro-austerity camp: The Keynesians seem right to have insisted that fiscal stimulus would not cause inflation in a serious recession.

There is also in the debate about TBI two different versions of the truth in competition, and ours is holding up better because ours is correct. With this blog now moving into its second year, we want to remind readers of the two visions of TBI that were on offer, and prove how we predicted much of what has happened in the past few months.

                                                Our Version

Our version of the truth was the TBI had been hijacked by a small group of dishonest scoundrels- Mariam, Luke, Ashley and their lackeys- who had ruthlessly got rid of all other managers in 2011. We also showed that the Franchise School group (consisting of 11 of out of their 18 schools) was extremely hostile to the current Head Office management and we even ran a 2 week investigation into TBI Malang and TBI Semarang, which pointed out that those 2 schools in particular were in crisis, with the management there refusing to even speak to the TBI Mafia at Head Office. We also said that Luke, Ashley and Mariam were a bunch of incompetents who stole other people’s ideas and success and had little hope of developing TBI on their own. In addition, we pointed out very early that Scott Martin was a widely despised and loathed School Manager who seemed to do nothing and was known for his tyrannical style. Furthermore, we claimed that Luke Preece had been so ruthlessly cunning and Machievellian since way back that he displayed signs of sociopathy. We also said- from April 2012 onwards- that TBI Bekasi was a festering sore of corruption and teacher abuse.

                                           The Other View

The other is that everyone, including Jesus, Buddha and the angels of Heaven, hated Cameron, because Luke, Colm and Matthew said so. We were a bunch of disgruntled former employees who were out to besmirch the glowing and glorious name of TBI, which was the leading language provider in Indonesia, South-East Asia and perhaps even the known Universe.

                    Whose Model Stood Up Better in 2012-2013?

  Well, in April 2012 Scott Martin was removed as School Manager of TBI’s biggest school and placed in a tiny Franchise school with 200 students (TBI Paskal) amidst widespread discontent with his tyrannical style. (A lot of anonymous abuse and threats followed by Michelle and her supporters.) Neither TBI Bali nor TBI Palembang opened despite being on the Business Plan. TBI Kuningan lost the Rp 300 million rupiah SIAP contract, which would have been viewed as unforgivable if any non-TBI Mafia figure caused it. The Internet was filled with discussion of the fact that TBI was stuffed full of illegal teachers (KTCs) and Luke failed to meet his own deadline to phase them out. By the end of the year TBI Malang and its joint venture owners had kicked TBI Head Office out of the building, with Luke Preece’s outrageous attempt to coerce the school manager into resigning and lying about it being the immediate cause. TBI Semarang took down the name TBI from its building, complaining about (who’d have thunk it) TBI Head Office Corruption. And then, finally, we received a long and detailed report from another TBI Bekasi teacher, who said that, to paraphrase Paul Simon, Binsar was ‘still wicked and slippery after all these years’ and had cheated him out of reimbursements, THR and the students out of their Native Speaker Component. Oh, and we got sent a copy of the TBI Bekasi financials which shows that it has rock-bottom revenue, proving it is indeed in terminal decline, and is also robbing TBI of royalties and the Indonesian government of taxes. And then in the wake of the two school closures (or more accurately, re-brandings), Luke Preece was finally removed as Head of Franchise. His alter ego, Michelle, described it as ‘a promotion’.

Whose version of truth do you think is holding up better, folks?