In part of 1 of this series we suggested that TBI has continually changed the team line about the allegations made on this blog. In phase 1 they flat-out denied that they were employing loads of teachers on VKU (business consultant) visas and launched a vicious smear campaign of ad hominem attacks on the authors of this blog. Anyone who contributed to this blog was either:

i) suffering from psychosis

ii) universally hated by everyone including small children, animals and Jesus of Nazareth

iii) probably both i) and ii)

Rather than engaging in reasonable debate, they focused on such “damning” facts as the acne scars on the face of one contributor and the “strage aura of unhappiness” which hovered over one female contributor. She was unfavorably compared with the manager of TBI Sudirman who the TBI defenders described as “an angel”. All of this discussion of acne scars and auras was always a very obvious attempt at diversion tactics and it didn’t last for long. Before long cracks appeared in the facade of TBI and they were blustering that our revelations were threatening jobs. Hmmm, we thought. How could our revelations of visa scams have threatened jobs unless the accusations were true? This meant that TBI was very close to admitting that it had lied to the public. TBI was running a visa scam after all!

At this point they changed their story. They were now willing to acknowledge that TBI was running a visa scam but they started alleging that everyone else was just as bad. As we pointed out again and again, this was also not true. Wall Street Indonesia- a much more professional school chain than TBI- had made a concerted effort to follow the DIKNAS regulations. They had raised salaries by up to 40% in order to attract teachers with the right qualifications.  These developments were reflected in debate on Dave’s ESL Cafe. The following posts by a user call “Durian Tango” start off by asserting that TBI was legal too and then, by the following day, he contradicts himself and admits only Wall Street Indonesia is complying with the law. Why he changed his story is unclear but it is typical of TBI. They can’t keep their story straight if you watch them closely.

Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 11:00 am    Post subject:
Hi RollingStone23,  I’m afraid the regulation is clear that only teachers with an English degree can legally work in Indonesia and a number of companies, such as WSI and TBI are adhering to the law, as is AIM, I believe. There may be others that I’m unaware of. There are also plenty of schools that are skirting the regulations (I won’t speculate on how they are doing it) and hiring teachers without a degree in English (or degree at all!).  If I were you, when interviewing for jobs, I would ask them whether they will take you, even without an English degree, and if they say yes, ask them how they are able to do it and whether it puts you at any risk. If you feel they are doing something shady, you may want to weigh the pros and cons and signing up.  Good luck and let us know how it goes.

By the following day, “Durian Tango” had changed his story, however, and TBI was now one of the law-breakers. Why did this user say TBI was “adhering to the law” on Thursday and then all but admit that TBI was not following the law the next? Strange and blatantly contradictory stuff. But such is the norm where TBI is concerned. They have been going into Dave’s ESL Cafe and placing fake positive reviews for years. They are serial deceivers of the worst order. Here is “Durian Tango’s” radically different version of events from the very next day:

Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 6:33 am    Post subject:
Good call Tudor. In fact, it seems that Wall Street Institute is the ONLY one perhaps adhering to the law (anyone at AIM want to speak up or at any other school that they know of that is sticking to the law?) If this is the case, then there is very large number of ESL teachers out there with suspicious paperwork on their files. This doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal at the moment as you don’t hear many problems come of it, but let’s hope that the government doesn’t make any suprise crackdowns that cause everyone a lot of trouble. Don’t forget too, Ramadan is coming and with it, you can be sure ESL schools across the country will face the annual raids by authorities looking for cash payouts while teachers scramble out windows and down stairwells.

Weird and weirder. Why did this guy list TBI as a lawful school one day and then acknowledge that TBI was one of the law-breakers the next. Why had he changed his story? The truth is that TBI had been lying about its illegal, graft-ridden schools for years and people take directions from one or two corruption ringleaders. In late June 2012, TBI was already backing away from claims that it was legal. They were well on their way to moving to Phase 2: OK, we’re law-breakers, but so is everyone else.

The worrying thing about this is not just the illegality, however. Exposing teachers to the risk of deportation is problematic but it is not the whole of the story. The larger question in some ways is what it says about TBI that they spent 4 full months denying the accusations before they finally came clean. How can anyone trust people who lie and lie for months on end and then say, “Ok, they’re breaking the law, but move on now“? In my experience, once you know that someone will lie to your face for months on end, you don’t want to be in a relationship with them at all. You can never again trust the veracity of anything  they are saying.