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…
Well, even for jaded, cynical TBI observers such as ourselves, we are surprised by just how low their fortunes have sunk. In recent weeks they have started once again advertising or teachers on online jobs websites, notably Dave’s ESL Cafe. There are now two successive teachers who have come onto the discussion forum and revealed…
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…
As we have long shown, TBI is one of the most unprofessional, dishonest and unethical schools in Indonesia and beyond. The discrepancy between the puffed-up self-promotion of TBI managers on their LinkedIn pages and this troublesome little placed called reality is a yawning chasm which is large enough to swallow several ocean-liners whole. Delusional to…
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…
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…
We have said that the TBI legal letter is very interesting in a number of ways. Yesterday we argued that it shows the authoritarian side of TBI, where anyone who disagrees with them must be silenced or even crushed. This is how they have always dealt with dissenting views inside the company at a senior…
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