Last week we showed an online article where sociopaths were described as “psychological and emotional terrorists”. They select their target and they move in for the kill, attacking the reputation, peace of mind, security and support bases of the victim until they submit. We have been showing how Luke is such a terrorist against his perceived “foes”. It should also be highlighted that really Luke is also declaring war on TBI itself, as you cannot attack and undermine managers of schools without putting a big dent in profits and school numbers. Luke is actually a terrorist within TBI, which explains why it has performed so badly since he came to Jakarta in 2010. He is more interested in “getting people sacked” (which he gets off on) than actually, you know, managing a business, which involves co-operation and compromise. Since he gained a big role at Head Office, growth at the formerly booming language-chain has ground to a complete halt. This is no coincidence- he has got rid of most of the experienced managers and many of the best teachers in his insane power-grab. But has he been brave enough to admit his mistakes? Of course not! Responsibility is for mugs, according to him. Sociopaths use scapegoats to avoid responsibility for things. There is no better example of his psychological terrorism than the hate campaign he waged against GA, TBI Malang’s former manager.

The sociopath attacks on multiple fronts and plays a long-term game, acting from the shadows. It is hard to see what is going on until you have been around them for quite a while and, in my experience, only more intuitive people work out what Preece is really up to at all. (Though many more people can see it once it is pointed out.) Luke’s games in Malang were one of the surest signs of sociopathy we have yet encountered, but unfortunately we didn’t hear the full story until 15 months after they happened.

In Malang Luke’s psychological terrorism centered on going to Mariam and saying that GA should be fired because he was a criminal mastermind! (Takes one to know one, does it, Luke?) According to Preece, GA had waited hours before reporting a break-in at TBI Malang because he had actually been the mastermind of the break-in himself! Did he have any proof at all that GA was behind it? Not a scrap! But he operates mostly by innuendo, smearing people without any evidence or proof. He lobbied Mariam to get rid of GA, which she declined to do at that point, but he kept on trying until something worked.

But how did Luke even know that the school had been broken into before Mariam? Did GA tell him? Not at all. Luke knew because he had placed a spy within the school who would report any “dirt” (ie. anything bad which happened at the school) directly to Luke. GA had asked for a good office manager and Luke had used the opportunity to place Niah, his personal “mole” from Bandung. She had even held secret meetings behind the school manager’s back aimed at raking up dirt against her own supervisor! The findings of these “hate sessions” would then he reported back to Luke, who would use them against GA, who Luke hated with a passion. The concept that Luke uses moles was first told to us from Malang, and it explains a lot once you know about this scheme. We later realized that all the worst trouble-makers at Kuningan- Matthew, Minerva, and Nicola- had been placed there by Luke. But back to Malang.

Let’s just slow down here and look at how many TBI rules Luke Preece and his mole were breaking here:

1) Luke slandered GA that he was a thief with no proof at all.
2) Luke tried to get someone fired based on completely unsubstantiated allegations.
3) Luke asked Niah to hold unauthorized meetings that had no other purpose except to undermine the school manager. These meetings were completely outside of accepted policy and procedures and had to be “top secret”.
4) Luke neglected completely to do his own job, which was, you know, to try and make sure TBI Malang was a success. He offered no guidance or help.
5) Luke instructed a TBI staff member to one-sidedly rake up nothing but dirt, training and leading other TBI staff to be as low, unbalanced and vindictive as himself.

The picture we get from this sorry episode is of a rogue element, who is ready to inflict any amount of damage on TBI in order to increase his own power base and remove rivals. Far from being an asset to TBI, he is willing to sabotage whole schools to get rid of rivals, which will inevitably result in poor performance. He is a ticking time-bomb inside TBI, a psychological terrorist without any scruples or ethics at all.