We have decided to start focusing on Mariam Kartikatresni again. The legendary narcissist and dragon lady terrorized TBI for years, causing dozens upon dozens of subordinates to quit TBI over the years. This was a woman who would forget to give people targets or guidelines and then fly into a narcissistic rage when things didn’t…
What do gangster tattoos and the sheer, comic incompetence of the TBI Mafia have in common? Not much you would think. However, I recently read a review of a book called Codes of the Underworld: How Criminals Communicate which made me reconsider my opinion. I now see that gangster tats and the incompetence of the Lilies…
This blog on the rogues of the Indonesian TEFL world hasn’t visited TBI much lately. There has been too much going on in the so-called ”multi-language” schools such as International Language Center and Global Bahasa, with many of their branches closing their doors for months at a time and refusing to give refunds. The chaos…
As we made clear in Parts 1 and 2, TBI (The British Institute) has long blamed its recruitment woes on the Education Ministry regulation that English teachers in Indonesia need to have a degree in English or Applied Linguistics or a Masters of TESOL. They have long portrayed themselves as the victims of unfair and…
In a previous post I mentioned Black Swan Theory, which was introduced by Lebanese mathematician Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book, “The Black Swan.” In this post I aim to look at the extent to which the English degree requirement could be considered to be a black swan event. More specifically I want to examine…
In the past year or so, TBI has finally become a registered company, PT. Titian Buana Ilmu. What did you make of this development? They had been talking about registering as a company for a long time, but like most of their plans, it took much longer to happen than they planned. Many years longer.…
What did you make of the decision to appoint Nunu Pratama as manager at TBI Kelapa Gading in 2012? You had previously been his manager at TBI Kuningan. Well, I thought it was a highly risky decision because he had said to be many times, “I am lazy. I just want to be teach my…
A few days ago we announced the pleasing news that The British Council, already in Medan, will be opening schools in Jakarta and Surabaya too, opening around March 2015. This will provide another respected, reliable alternative to unscrupulous local operators such as TBI (PT. Titian Buama Ilmu) or (even worse), Rumah Bahasa, a rogue school…
Have you ever complained online about the service you received from a business? Have you ever liked a comment on Facebook which was critical of a politician or other public figure? Have you ever signed an online petition that might have offended the ‘dignity’ of a powerful person or their business interests? If you said yes to…
Free speech in Indonesia is seriously threatened by the Electronic Information and Transmissions Law (2008), often known simply as the ITE Law, which makes it a criminal offense to “defame” people. Inevitably, this law has become a tool of oppression of the ruling elite. Cases brought under this law typically involve a powerful and wealthy…
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