For the past 18 months, we have been reporting intermittently about a rogue language school called Rumah Bahasa, the so-called ‘House of Languages’, which exemplifies all the sins of the Indonesian TEFL industry in one horrid package. The story began in 2013 when one whistle-blower teacher came forward and said on Dave’s ESL Cafe that…
Today we have heard from a Rumah Bahasa victim (calling herself Hollie) that the Rumah Bahasa branch at Sunter Mall has now closed. Former customers are now being directed to the Rumah Bahasa branch at TBI Kelapa Gading, often known as Rumah Bahasa Lotte Mart. This appears to be the last Rumah Bahasa standing, and…
In the last few days the British Council Surabaya have placed an ad for a Centre Manager. This is good news for anyone interested in quality education in Indonesia, as the British Council are a well-respected and professional operation with an international reputation. This stands in marked contrast with local imitator PT. Titian Buama Ilmu,…
Throughout 2014 the Rumah Bahasa story has provided an interesting counterpoint to the story of TBI. Before a brave teacher came forward and exposed the illegal shenanigans at Rumah Bahasa, this blog had focused exclusively on TBI (The British Institute), a school with its own sorry history of illegal and immoral behavior, all of it…
A truly astonishing story has appeared in the Indonesian press today. The Education Ministry, which was formerly known as Diknas, is currently being investigated by the Anti-Corruption Commission. They have found that not only has the Ministry been stealing 10% of teachers’ travel allowances, amounting to trillions of rupiah, but they have even been demanding…
After the closure of the first thread, TBI wasn’t done yet with trying to turn Living in Indonesia into a vehicle for their disinformation campaign. VardBon might have been gone, but a mysterious new user, ToBellow, turned up and starting say exactly the same things. ToBellow immediately started a scare campaign that was heavy on…
“Disinformation is intentionally false or inaccurate information that is spread deliberately. It is an act of making deceptive and false statements to convince someone of untruth. Disinformation should not be confused with misinformation, information that is unintentionally false. Unlike traditional propaganda techniques designed to engage emotional support, disinformation is designed to manipulate the audience at…
In recent years Indonesia has been struck by an epidemic of deaths related to illegal alcohol. Typically, these cases involved a number of people in a particular area dying from the consumption of miras oplosan (a home-made cocktail of alcoholic substances). The main ingredient of this home-made mixture is typically medical-grade methanol mixed with energy…
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…
As we have long suggested. the TEFL industry is evolving very rapidly in Jakarta and laggards like TBI who are stuck in the 1990s are going to be left rapidly behind. TBI’s ‘no frills’ approach to TEFL worked well enough when Indonesia was an immature market but it is now looking incredibly dated and low-end.…
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