Jesus Saves

... in an offshore account?

A seminar is being held in Jakarta today, Saturday, at a venue known as Serenity Towers. Its aim is to coerce local Christians into paying loads of money to learn how to earn loads of money because it is their God-given right to do so during their infinitesimally short time here on Earth before, like the diamonds they flash, they return to the earth.

Whereas many Muslims treat the Koran, their Holy Book, as the, ahem, gospel truth, many Christians, generally Protestants, rather than taking to heart the purported words of Jesus - "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - ask themselves "Why not gain the whole world plus my soul?".

Naturally these perverts of the truth, sorry - THE TRUTH, find justifications for their greed.

"Ask of me and I will give you the heathen for thy inheritance and the outermost part of the earth for thine possession."
Psalms 2.8

That, presumably, is the justification for having crucifixes made in the sweatshops of a factory in Dongguan City in heathen China.

The mostly young, female employees work from 8 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. seven days a week and are paid 26 cents an hour with no sick days or vacation. Workers live in filthy dormitories and are fed a watery 'slop'.

On reading stories like these, one may be tempted to dismiss religions as being contemptuous of humanity. It is encouraging, however, to discover that an awareness of ethical investment does exist among some Christians.

Being a good steward of one's financial resources also means making money in an ethical way that is compatible with Christian values.

Also, the Bible points out that part of the blessing of having money is to use it to help others and further the Kingdom of God: "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother"
(Deut 15:7, King James Version).

Jakartass was raised in a predominantly Christian environment because that was the England of the post-war years. I have since learned that wars are fought and terrorist outrages are perpetrated in the name of false prophets by folk who think that life here on Earth is so shite that their only purpose is to destroy it.

Then there are those who wish to wrest the riches of the Earth for their own ends from the heathens who occupy the surface above. Those who argue against these despoilers or suggest alternative points of view are labelled as blasphemers or infidels.

Building edifices for the supposed glorification of one's gods is a timeworn practice. Grand mosques, temples and cathedrals are dotted around the globe, with a few mountain sized Buddhas to watch over them. Here in Jakarta, as my good friend Indcoup has reminded us, the Bethany Church is the force behind Christ's (and the world's) tallest erection, the planned Jakarta Tower. Amongst the treats in store for the hoped for 40,000 visitors a day will be a mega mall, something that is sorely needed here. (Sick joke sic transit.)

There are various cults who believe that with the Second Coming of Christ, True Believers will be carted off to heaven. I'm not sure how many virgins and/or gigolos will be available, but that sure as hell sounds attractive to some. What I'd like to know, however, is what Jesus would buy, apart from a new pair of sandals.

This is a valid question because this is a feeble attempt at giving a plug to a new documentary available on DVD called What Would Jesus Buy?. Made by the Reverend Billy, this follows a church choir called "The Church of Stop Shopping," which crosses the USA singing anti-shopping and anti-corporate songs. I presume that the Rev is also a major supporter of such initiatives as the Buy Nothing Day which took place last Saturday, the 24th.

Unfortunately, I had no advance notice of it, even though there is an Indonesian website and it was celebrated here in Jakarta with a free market in Sambas Park, which lasted from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and provided free food, clothes, free T-shirt printing, book readings, acupressure, a free acting class and an introduction to Braille from the Mitra Netra Foundation for the blind.

Ika Vantiani, 31, from a community called the Dipepi Free Food Gang, said that Buy Nothing Day was intended to counter consumerism and to promote the concept that sharing was better than buying.

The event, however, took a not unsurprising turn for Jakarta, with more people turning up looking to get freebies than to give. Ika had initially announced the free market on a number of mailing lists in her network. However, radio stations and newspapers interviewed her before the event and hence the rapacious throngs.

At least 100 people visited the park, with many of them not quite grasping the concept behind the free market. Strangers to the idea of sharing and 'Buy Nothing Day', many of the visitors appeared hell bent on grabbing everything in sight.
(fr. Jakarta Post)

"Rapacious throngs .... hell bent on grabbing everything in sight"? Shopping and sweatshops as the new religion?

It's 'Christians' like these who are the patrons and managers of various educational establishments here which, they claim in their missionary zeal, will produce the country's élite. In spite of their earnest speeches, in practice teachers remain exploited and underpaid, and Indonesia continues to slip down the international ranking lists related to the quality of education. (cf. UNESCO - Education For All Global Monitoring 2008, released yesterday, shows Indonesia has slipped to position 62 - out of 130 surveyed - from 58 last year.)

But sharing, caring, with no financial reward? Offering free classes for the poor, campaigning against sweatshops and trafficking, concerned about the excesses of a consumerist society and hopeful that there still can be an Earth fit for future generations? What kind of people are these?

Simple, they are unsung heroes who believe in the inate power and goodness of the rakyat (common people). They also recognise that there's a thin line between good and evil. What do you see?


What I see is that folk who profess to take the words of the Bible (and the Koran) as the literal truth are following their own thought processes without due regard for the actual words and intended meanings of the Prophets.

Modern Christianity is a religion of great variety, from so-called liberal to arch-conservative, yet all forms of Christianity contain traditions that not only are not found in the teachings of Jesus but rather, are opposite to him and in the way of Human Rights.

In other words, these self-proclaimed élitists really can't give a shit for society as a whole and are best left locked up in their exclusive 'serene' complexes with the entrance gates locked.

A sign of the times?

At least that keeps them away from decent folk.

It doesn't cost much .... 1

This is not the first in a series of articles outlining and delineating how certain employers here show little regard for the welfare of their employees and their clients. I have already written at length about Bakrie and Lapindo, about Adam Suherman and his plaything, AdamAir, and there is a lot more that can and will be written about their arrogance. However, this the first in a series with the same theme but with a personal angle which will slowly unfold as my legal case reaches up through the echelons.

In one week I will be an illegal alien for the first time in my 19 years here. At that time I will have named the names of those who seek to stigmatise me thus. However, I have not broken any laws here. They have. What is more they continue to do so with those remaining in their employ. I have the full backing of my legal team as we seek a solution.

An educationalist recently told me that the philosophical priority and ethical basis of his chain of schools is to teach students what is right and wrong. I suggested that good and bad are more fundamental concepts. For example, the execution of Saddam Hussein may have been right in judicial terms but the executioners horrified the world because of their display of hatred and bigotry. Because they were bad, this made the act itself inherently wrong.

Our upbringing should guide us to what is right and wrong. Problems occur when an individual or group imposes its ethical and moral correctness on others who differ in their interpretation.

When I commented that, per se and de facto, good is right and bad is wrong and that these concepts were indivisible, I was told that my thinking is very post-modernist.

Before I get accused of using lexiphanic language, let me just say that I'm not at all certain what a post-modernist is. According to my Webster's Big and Too Heavy To Put In Your Pocket Dictionary which I trust as far as I can throw it, post-modernism means coming after and usually in reaction to modernism in the 20th century, usually in the arts and literature.

Hang on a sec here. 'Modernism' also has a definition, but I think we can all understand that in general it refers to a break with the past, to new methods and tools.

I suppose I am a modernist in at least a couple of respects. Jakartass, my main blog, is one of the world's top blogs - ranked ±100,000 out of ±96 million active blogs, and both my sons are computer literate because I gave them one when each was 6 years old. However in most others I think I am a pre-modernist.

When I was a lad in London, back in the mists of time admittedly, so was David McKie.

Wartime austerity bred a nation of hoarders for whom spending money on new things was plain wrong.

As Britain recovered from the deprivations and sacrifices of World War II, food and clothing remained rationed. No-one got more than their fair share. School children such as David and myself were given daily doses of vitamins, and we were encouraged to make do, to waste not, want not, to Do It Yourself and, perhaps above all, to not throw things away because they might have a later use.

If a tap (faucet) leaked, we changed the washer.
In Jakarta, we buy a new tap.

If we had a garden, we grew our own fruit and vegetables.
In Jakarta we buy imported tropical fruit such as mangoes and durians.

We learned to switch off lights to conserve electricity.
In Jakarta air conditioners are set at 16ºC.

We knew where our water came from - it was recycled 16 times before reaching the sea.
Here taps are left running as if they were mountain springs.

We took our own shopping bags to the shops.
Here, plastic bags are used once, thrown away and thereby worsen floods.

When asked about our future dreams, we would answer that we wanted to be train drivers, nurses or accountants.
Here high school students say they want to be business managers and get rich.

We were encouraged to give back to society something of what society had given us. We helped little old ladies across the street, we served the community of which we were part, we did what we were lead to believe was right and proper, and folk thought we were good children.

A recent survey asked high school students what their lifetime ambitions were. A substantial percent said they wanted to be financially rich.

Here, children are taught that right and wrong is about being good or bad consumers, possibly with the help of God.

This polemic is not specifically geared towards Indonesian societal expectations: for all I know 'globalisation' has homogenised urban societies everywhere. I have not forgotten about the horrendous underemployment and poverty to be found in urban and rural kampungs, but then this polemic is focussed on those who think it is their god-given right to exploit others for their own immediate gratification.

I do know that I don't fit into such a society. I am not a snacker, content with a nibble here, a soundbyte there. My attention span is quite long. I can gaze at a sunset for its duration. I can listen to a piece of music which is longer than three minutes. I can read a novel at one sitting (but rarely have the time these days because I have a writing commission). I don't need constant entertainment, unless my writing can be categorised as such. I am happy with my own company although this doesn't mean that I cannot entertain or play games.

The incessant and intrusive pop hit ringtones of handphones are an invasion of my personal space, and, as I have often said, I don't even have one. I don't want the immediacy of contact and access to my privacy. And I certainly don't want to receive and pay for illiterate messages I can't decipher or unimportant news as it happens.

I don't need or want anything that it is instantly consumed without regard for the process of production and digestion and disposed of without due thought for the consequences. And above all, I don't seek any of those things thinking that I do it because God is on my side. That is Prosperity Theology.

Prosperity theology detracts Christians (and every self-confessed adherent to any religion with the exception of animists) from worshipping God and leads them to worship material wealth. Idolatry is not just bowing down in front of a statue, it is "making the penultimate, ultimate." Thus, the Christian's objective ceases to be worshipping God and serving Him, but health and wealth in this life.

Therefore, prosperity theology actually makes God into a means towards an end. God becomes the means whereby I enjoy a rich and prosperous life on this earth. In its worse format, prosperity theology seeks to manipulate God ...... "in the name of Jesus" (is) a quasi-magical formula used to coerce God into giving me what I want.

Followers of this religious path do everything for show, to make themselves look good when they look in the mirror.

And I fully intend to crack that mirror, to show these idolaters what's on the other side of the Looking Glass.

It doesn't cost much .... 2

It would be very easy to conclude that this region is one big unmitigated disaster area. According to the WALHI (Friends of the Earth Indonesia), Indonesia experienced 135 ecological disasters last year due to forest and environmental degradation.

The executive director of WALHI, Chalid Muhammad,said, "The disasters started with floods and landslides in Jember, East Java, on January 1, 2006, and closed with floods and landslides in northern Aceh which forced some 70,000 to evacuate to safer areas at the end of last year."

The ecological disasters caused big material losses, and claimed thousands of lives, he said.
The floods and landslides that hit Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan islands at the end of the year killed about 300 people. And, of course, they have continued into this year.

He also said that over the last five year, the impacts of environmental damages have increased three times. And the main cause of these preventable disasters?

"Forest exploitations, both legally with the government's permits and illegally."

Pure greed in other words and a total lack of consideration for the consequences of these actions. Whilst the very few enrich themselves and embed themselves in political and business empires, the masses are impoverished. Those forced "to evacuate to safer areas" have to find alternative sources of income to support their families.

Many end up in Jakarta and many more become migrant workers overseas in wealthier countries where, unfortunately, they are often further exploited.

According to Indonesia's Manpower Ministry, around 1.7 million Indonesians work in Malaysia, but 1.2 million of them work illegally. Most of these will have been smuggled in, albeit having 'paid' for their passage by getting into long-term debt as an indentured labourer. Their unjust and unfair employment contracts force them to work long hours at near-poverty level wages in slave-like working conditions.

At the 12th Summit of ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) held in Cebu, the Philippines, in January 2007 agreed to right these wrongs.

The Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), a network of 260 migrant workers’ association, trade unions and migrants’ rights advocates in the region, had long urged the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to protect the rights of millions of migrant workers in the region.

They issued a press release(.pdf) :

“Southeast Asia has a large population of labor migrants, many of whose rights are violated on the basis of their race, ethnicity, gender or creed. We call on ASEAN to enshrine in its Charter international core labor standards including freedom of association, the right to organize and bargain collectively and elimination of all forms of discrimination at the workplace.”

Today (Saturday, January 12th 2007), the 10 ASEAN member countries are due to sign a declaration on migrant worker rights which spells out the rights and duties of the receiving and origin countries of the workers. There is one potential stumbling block concerning the rights of migrant workers to have their families with them.

However, this should be resolved as there are 'higher' international conventions and agreements (UN and ILO) which the countries are, by and large, signatories of. It is to be hoped that Indonesia, in particular, will enforce this agreement. Although Indonesia has pledged to ratify the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, it has yet to sign it.*

Given the importance to the Indonesian economy of the inflow of money to migrant worker families, money which one may presume lessens the unemployment rate (40%) and the number of those deemed to be living in poverty, that was an important day. That is if the government enforces the law.

“Labor migration provides significant economic contributions to both sending and receiving countries. Remittances from labor migrants across the region amount to billions of dollars. If use properly, remittances can be an additional means for just and people-centered development, provided that appropriate institutional support and economic opportunity exists.”

Of course, having agreed to protect the rights of migrant workers overseas the Indonesian government must be seen to be enforcing the domestic law on the employment of all workers, including we 'migrants' from the so-called developed countries.

*Other Conventions which Indonesia has yet to ratify include the optional protocol to Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), optional protocol to CAT, optional protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on the involvement of children in armed conflict, optional protocol to CRC on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

It doesn't cost much .... 3

General interest in education in Indonesia has grown substantially in the past five years and many Indonesian schools are claiming to be a national-plus school. What this means to the population in general and many parents is ambiguous but it is clear that the term national-plus, as a marketing tool, is a very effective way of attracting increased enrollments to a school. There is more to being a national-plus school, however, than simple and often misleading gimmickry.
The Chairperson of the Association of National Plus Schools - 2006

The first so-called National Plus schools were set up over 10 years ago and there are now about 50 in Jakarta, a proliferation coinciding with the growth of the middle classes who could afford an alternative to the state schools which has long suffered under investment as central government prioritised its need to overcome the debt crisis.

Another factor for low investment in this sector has been decentralisation and that not all regencies and provinces have the political will or competence to manage this sector.

However, the government does have a commitment to improving education and making it more widely available. This is in line with its Education For All programme initiated in 1999. Its commitment has been demonstrated with its Social Safety Net providing scholarships to primary and secondary school and university students from the poorest families throughout Indonesia, providing block grants to schools in poor areas for running the schools during this economic crisis and providing budget to support the implementation of equivalency programs for school-age children (primary and lower secondary schools) who financially are not able to attend the regular school programs, as well as providing more scholarships for secondary school students’ drop-outs to attend skill training courses.

Changes have been made, too, with the curriculum now moving towards 'student-centred' education. This is in line with the curricula from, say, Singapore, adopted by many national plus schools. It is hoped that Indonesian students will graduate with a more worldly knowledge, a sense of curiosity/experimentation and the skills to compete "in this globalisation era", whatever that may be. Above all, it must be hoped that through this 'new' approach citizens will gradually widen their horizons away from the imposed insularity of the Suharto era.

National Plus schools are more expensive than state schools for a variety of reasons. Certain schools will market themselves on the basis of the facilities that they have to offer. From quality gymnasiums and outdoor facilities to suites of computers, and languages laboratories some schools may be able to offer built facilities of excellence; but facilities alone do not necessarily make a school.

An essential ingredient for any school is its teaching staff and here again many national plus schools show an admirable degree of commitment. The training of teachers and requiring teachers to be updating and developing their teaching material is a quite common experience. Also, a commitment to curriculum development and the utilization of new methods and media for teaching reflect national plus schools' commitment to improving their educational service.
Rachel Davies, an educational consultant - May 2004

The better National Plus schools offer the International Baccalaureat or the IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education); those that have been accredited by the relevant boards are not the subject of this particular polemic.

Not all schools, however, have been established with the primary aim of ensuring educational excellence. For many, it is but one way of creating a profitable business. Hence the number of franchise businesses, e.g. HighScope, Singapore International Schools and the many kindergartens such as Tiny Tots.

(NB. Language schools have also followed the franchise route as pioneered by EF. ILP and TBI are two examples of long established organisations which have remodeled their core business post-krismon in order to compete with the rapid proliferation of self-styled language institutes.)

One cannot argue against the notion of a school more than covering its costs. Without the excess of income over expenditure, there would be little further investment in what has to be a dynamic enterprise. Schooling, both in theory and practice is in a state of constant flux and that is for the good.

Where major problems lie is when the self-appointed management of a school (or network of schools) preaches a philosophy to its clients, the parents, yet does not understand the principles underlying that concept or the need to employ those who do.

As a part of the planning for improving the quality of education, Indonesia recognizes that unless the schools are being managed efficient and effectively, we cannot expect that the program will achieve its goals and targets. For this, improving the quality of the school personnel to be capable of managing the school properly is of crucial importance. This is indeed very urgent considering the trend that decentralizing education up to the district level is very soon going to need the support of this policy by the readiness of each school to manage the school program efficiently and effectively.

I take 'decentralizing' to also mean the abrogation of responsibilities to management boards. Although district and regional offices of the Ministry of Education oversee those aspects of the curriculum and management of schools, such as the recognition of teacher competence, pertaining to subjects which are compulsory in Indonesian schools principals may find that they are chiefly answerable to a school board or 'head office' which is staffed by non-educationalists.

However dedicated principals and their staff may be, their greatest stress comes from being answerable to external pressures. The private sector has now become deeply involved in education and schools; so much so now that it seems that education is seen as a good business prospect and a growing business sector.

Not all schools, however, have been established with the primary aim of ensuring educational excellence. For many, it is but one way of creating a profitable business. Hence the number of franchise businesses, e.g. HighScope, Singapore International School and the many kindergartens such as Tiny Tots.

(NB. Language schools have also followed the franchise route as pioneered by EF. ILP and TBI are two examples of long established organisations which have remodeled their core business post-krismon in order to compete.)

One cannot argue against the notion of a school more than covering its costs. Without the excess of income over expenditure, there would be little further investment in what has to be a dynamic enterprise. Schooling, both in theory and practice is in a state of constant flux and that is for the good.

Where major problems lie is when a school (or network of schools) preaches a philosophy to its clients, the parents, yet does not understand the principles underlying that concept or the need to employ those who do.

It doesn't cost much .... 4

Education For All in Indonesia wouldn't cost much if there were the infrastructure to provide employment, but I do not intend to pursue that path in this thread. Nor is it my intention to laud the achievements of the Suharto era but one must note the great amount of resources - from the Government, private sources as well as from international donors - which, since 1990, have been devoted to invest in the development of the four program areas - early childhood development (ECD), primary education, literacy programs, and continuing education - through a coordinating scheme among the concerned agencies.

The school system includes a six-year primary school, a three-year junior secondary school, a three-year senior secondary school, and higher education in universities, teacher training colleges, and (vocational) academies.

Under the constitution, education must be nondiscriminatory, and six years of primary education are free and compulsory. Subsidies are being made available to offer free junior high school schooling. In practice, however, the supply of schools and teachers is inadequate to meet the needs of the fast-growing post primary school age group.

This situation is partly responsible for the growth in the private schools sector and national plus movement, as these schools are able to employ expatriate teachers to offset the teacher supply.

The national education budget was US$ 4.18 billion last year with 31.8 million children enrolled in primary schools and 18.6 million in secondary, mainly junior high - years 7, 8 and 9. Senior high school graduation is a requirement for those wishing to enter university.

It is probably important to note that in Indonesia the public school sector maintains dual vocational (SMK) and professional streaming (SMU). However, while the number of places in tertiary institutions remains inadequate and education is relatively expensive, only a small proportion of SMU students actually participate. This poses some major questions as to the relevence of a purely academic SMU curriculum and the efficiency of a dual system.

Schooling is not, of course, the same as education; it is the study environment. However, every country requires some commonality in its school system in order to promulgate its culture identity, be it founded on a secular or religious basis.

The current Law No. 20/2003 Concerning the National Education System offers the following:
- Education is defined as a planned effort to establish a study environment and education process so that the student may actively develop his/her own potential to gain the religious and spiritual level, self-consciousness, personality, intelligent, behaviour and creativity to him/herself, other citizens and for the nation.

The right to receive an education is a human right as defined in the United Nations Charter. Katarina Tomaševski, a Special Rapporteur on the right to education submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Commission in 2002 following a visit here at the invitation of the government.

She had this to say: An in-depth review of the nature and scope of Indonesia’s human rights obligations in education is necessary in view of the dual system of public and private, religious and secular education, the dichotomy of school fees being both outlawed and allowed, the vertical and horizontal division of responsibilities for financing education, and the dual scheme of civil service and "contract teachers". Moreover, the dichotomy of education as a free public service and as a traded service has exacerbated the confusion regarding Government’s human rights obligations in education.

I referred to the 'horizontal division' of financial responsibilities in my comment in It doesn't cost much .... 3 about the decentralisation of responsibilities to local administration. My central thesis, however, has now been reached - the dichotomy of education as a free public service and as a traded service.

The Chinese Education Foundation was founded on July 19, 1950. Its name was changed in 1967 as after more than 25 years of Independence, Indonesian's pride has grown more, such that nation building and character building needed to take a more concrete form. Also, from the content of the founding act, it was very noticeable that the old foundation's Chinese ethnic based on Christianity has changed into Indonesian Nationality based on equal beliefs or religion.

So Yayasan Badan Pendidikan Kristen (BPK) Djawa Barat (Foundation of Christian Board of Education of West Java) was formed with the head office in Jakarta. However, soon another name change was required and registered in 1989.

In the improved social-economic condition and communicational ability, BPK Jabar has made several expansions up to the Lampung area. So a couple of schools under BPK Jabar was built in Bandar Lampung and Metro. With Jakarta no longer a part of West Java and Lampung as a province clearly outside Java, separated by the Sunda Canal, so it has been considered to change the name of Education Foundation in West Java with another - the name of Christian Education Foundation Penabur (BPK Penabur).

And this is the English translation they provide of their prologue: Remembering that Indonesian Christian Church which lives in alliance with the Holy Church in undertaking the call of servitude and testimony is in educational region, so that the Indonesian Christian Church in West Java has founded and nurtured a Christian Education Foundation based on the Christian Faith, in accordance to the awareness that education has the purpose of forming a complete humane. It was also stated that such foundation was situated in Jakarta and based on Pancasila and has the purpose of participating in forming a complete Indonesian humane through the region of education as the realization of the call of servitude and Christian testimony.

I have done my best to cross check this with the version in Indonesian and, yes, 'servitude' is what is meant, even though my too-big-to-tote Websters defines the word thus: the condition of a slave, serf, or the like; subjection to a master, bondage or slavery. The antonym is 'freedom'.

So, where does this fit in with the stated aims of the Indonesian education system, to enable students to actively develop his/her own potential? Where does 'creativity' fit in?

Penabur is perceived to be failing its students, mainly because it fails to meet the needs of the "essential ingredient for any school", its teaching staff.

"Jesus died for somebody's sins ... but not mine."

I know that this one line from a great song will be offensive to the people pictured here, but then their sins aren't mine. I do not keep people in servitude, I do not lie, I do not knowingly break the just laws of a society and I do not practice Prosperity Theology.





They do. These are the faces of people with such vast egos that they deem it more important to preserve their 'face', a notion based on how high they rank in their mafia-style family oligarchy. I am not a member of this family, thank god - whoever she may be.


For the whys and the wherefores, read It doesn't cost much .... 5.
Next.

It doesn't cost much .... 5

As it is cheaper to buy a new DVD machine than to have it repaired, it is, I suppose, little wonder that there is little pride of possession. Quantity replaces quality.

Unfortunately, this rapacious and unthinking perspective is also all-pervasive in the pompously titled human resource development departments. We are but cogs in a machine, inter-changeable and fully disposable. You don't have to accept this job; we can always get someone cheaper.

Clock in, clock out. Do your job and don't complain. You are in our employ purely at our pleasure, for our profits.

How we live by time
- Dave Allen

A watch, a clock.
We're brought up to respect the clock, to admire the clock.

Punctuality.
We live our life to the clock.
You wake to the clock.
You go to work to the clock.
You clock in to the clock.
You clock out to the clock.
You come home to the clock.
You eat to the clock.
You drink to the clock.
You go to bed to the clock.
You go back to work to the clock.

You do that for forty years of your life.
You retire.
And what do they fucking give you?

A clock!

Success is the aim of every company in the world. To make a company success, every employee in the company must have the same aim with the company.

Of course, when you don't know the aims of the company, it can be very difficult for employees to stick with the game plan. Penabur has never issued its expatriate employees a 'Vision and Mission Statement'.

Every employee must do the job with the best potential as they can.
Agreed, but the five teacher co-ordinators (in three years!) have been unable to offer support to NETs as they were either too busy fighting the NETs' corner or defending their own.

To make our company a great place to work, our approach is to make trust between managers and employees, this is the primary defining characteristic of the very best workplaces.
Trust? Oral agreements which are reneged because there none in writing. Employment contracts which, apart from the original ones written in August 2004 (partly by me), cannot have been agreed, as required by law, with the Manpower Ministry as the contracts themselves do not encompass terms and conditions as specified by law.

Trust? When every working expatriate in Indonesia is aware of the consequences - potential deportation and blacklisting - of being caught with inadequate paperwork. Yet there are few expatriates within the Penabur organisation who have not found themselves in this predicament for variable lengths of time.

Every employee must do the job with the best potential as they can.
Agreed, but what is the job? No job descriptions have been issued since August 2004. There is no support system for the expatriate teachers. The teacher co-ordinators have been unable to offer support to NETs as they had absolutely no support from management themselves.

We are a team, we work as a team and we share the fruit of success together.
In our commitment to communities, we don't just seek near-term results - we also want lasting impact.
Within Penabur's UPI programme there is no fixed salary scale for the teachers as, according to Pak Robert Robianto, the Chairman of BPK Penabur, Jakarta, there are budgetary constraints and the programme is borderline financially. Teachers are expected to negotiate their own terms, a demeaning process for those professionals who believe that education is a service to be provided rather than a product to be sold.

The lasting impact is that in the first two years, more than half of the expatriate staff recruited left, mostly pushed rather than jumped, full of resentment at the disrespectful and inhumane* treatment.

I am one of those, but I am not alone. In my (our) efforts to negotiate and to reach an amicable settlement, the blame for the non-payment of agreed (in writing) monies due, for the uncertainty of expatriate employment and worker status, for the perceived non-payment of income tax and for the many other irregularities, both contractural and structural, the blame game has almost reached the bottom rung of the administrative staff.

I always got on with the security guards and office boy. Perhaps they'll give me satisfaction. After all, they're not the ones facing trials in open court.


By the way, the fine words in italics are those of Pak Oki Widjaya - CEO Galva Corporation (on the left of the seated front row) and (formerly?) chair of the UPI Board. He is one of those primarily responsible for the predicament that BPK - Penabur now finds itself in. Note that he says one thing about the company that gives his family financial security and another in the 'servitude' of BPK Penabur which screws its employees.

Oh, and Penabur teachers have to clock in and out of their schools.

* I was tempted to write 'inhuman' as the local, Indonesian, teachers have been called 'monkeys' - a particularly rude epithet - by the then Head of Programs. One day he told me that the project had been set up to meet the demands of parents who wanted their children to see a white face in the classroom. A performing monkey, no less.

A partial document (.pdf) detailing how Penabur has infringed Act No.13, 2003 pertaining to Manpower can be found here.