One of the greatest triumphs of this blog was the role we played in the end of Mariam Kartikatresni as TBI Director. The closure of TBI Malang was the end of her, and our liaison with anti-TBI Mafia figures in TBI Malang helped in revealing her for the vindictive sham she is . In November 2012, after the JV partner had dumped her due to her “gross unprofessionalism”, she finally lost her coveted TBI Director job (which she had fought tooth and nail to hold into for years) and was replaced by Reza Suriansha (who goes by the name of COO) as part of a face-saving deal cut at the time she was dumped. Maybe no mistake she was dumped though. She went from head of TBI with 300 employees to head of “Testing”, which used to have 2 employees in the department! As one Indonesian memorably put it to us. “Mariam mampus”. Mariam’s finished!

Her 6 years running TBI was full of nothing but errors and bad judgment. So much so that former CELTA trainer David Bradbury dubbed her time at TBI, “The Reign of Error”. Most of his jokes were terrible, but this was an accurate and reasonable piece of wit from the Preece stooge. Indeed, her name has been so badly sullied by her failures at TBI that she has now changed her name. What other reason could there be for the new surname? A couple of months back Cam was included in a group email (a typical Ibu Mariam stuff-up) which revealed her using the new name Mariam Sutalaksana. If you see this name “Mariam Sutalaksana”, please know it is the same old incompetent who TBI was shackled with all along- Mariam Kartikatresni, who Luke never stopped brown-nosing, except when her back was turned. 

Her reign at TBI was one of bad decisions, gross laziness, gross unprofessionalism, open revolt from angry franchise owners and the shameless protection of Luke Preece and his goons. The former batik-seller and self-styled hoofer was a complete disaster for TBI. Dozens of people left (mostly Indonesian women) rather than have to put up with narcissistic rants, endless self-glorification and inability to complete ANYTHING to schedule. Whatever name she goes by, she has a lot to answer for.