Penabur - Contemptible and Criminal Christians

I can't change the past, but I have a chance to create my future. I can't go back and turn back the time. I can't change what I've done ..."

fr. Susiana Gunawan Friendster profile 

 

That is not 100% true.

 

For a start, you can do what the Supreme Court has mandated you to do (Putusan No. 576 K/PDT.SUS/2008). Your failure to do so leaves you liable to a term of imprisonment for contempt of court.

 

You may think that you can hide behind the Penabur Board of Governors, but they will hang you out to dry because you are the person who signed letters which admit to illegal acts, such as the non-payment of tax and the refusal to issue exit permits. the employment of expatriates on tourist and business visas, and much else.

 

You are also named as the 'registrant' of upi-edu.com, albeit a defunct website, and you remain as 'business manager' of UPI, although no one seems quite sure what that entails. Presumably you are responsible for the recent recruitment advertisements in the Jakarta Post. These are de facto evidence that UPI continues to contravene prevailing regulations regarding the employment of "Qualified Native English Teachers".

 

I should not have to spell out to you what those regulations are, but for those reading this email via the Bcc facility I refer you to Act No.66 of 2009 About Granting Permission for Foreign National Teachers in formal and non-formal education units in Indonesia. It's online in Indonesian here.

 

I'm not seeking vengeance but merely what is owed according to the contract I signed in good faith with Ukrida Penabur International. Article 7 refers to Terms and Conditions, including termination of employment. Article 10 states that "the laws of Indonesia govern this Contract of employment and the determination of any disputes or claims arising in relation thereto." The Supreme Court has ruled against UPI so in not settling matters with me (and Jac Poelemans) you are acting in contempt of court.

 

I am writing to you in good faith, expecting you to settle forthwith. As well as the sum stated in the Supreme Court ruling, plus the interest on that sum accrued in the two or so years since that ruling, there is the unpaid salary for work done prior to my arbitrary and unlawful dismissal, my legal entitlements under the law pending the settlement of this case (including medical), and the sorting out of my residence permit with the Department of Immigration.

 

When dealing with the latter issue, you may wish to refer them to the letter from my lawyers, SH & R, dated 23rd November 2009, ref no:158/SHR/PV/11/2009, which informed them of your liability in law for my current situation until you have settled up according to the Supreme Court ruling referred to above. Your lawyers, Petrus Selestinus, will have a copy of that letter, and I separately informed the British Consulate of the situation. They are the Cc'd recipients of this email.

 

This has gone on long enough, so, Suzi, it's up to you, lah.

 

You would do well to read and inwardly digest your Bible, particularly Ezekiel 18 and Romans 12:19. However, in case you decide to ignore this, then let me assure you that if I do not hear from you or any of the board members before August 17th - the second anniversary of the publication of the Supreme Court's decision - then some of the contents of my book, Penabur - Contemptible and Criminal Christians has already been pre-scheduled for posting online on that date. Although my blog Performing Monkeys carries my opinions about your contemptible and morally corrupt management, I have yet to post any of the documents which demonstrate beyond any doubt Penabur's contempt for Indonesia's laws.

When I do, rest assured that the link will be sent to not only include the good folk Bcc'd to this email but also to the media and the mailing lists of Penabur congregations throughout Indonesia.

Terry Collins
B.Ed. CTEFL

TEFL on the rocks?

The Teaching of English of as a Foreign Language ¹ (TEFL) is a massive worldwide industry. Not only is it a foreign currency earner in a number of countries such as Australia and the UK, but it has been used as a cover for human trafficking.

I entered the profession because I wanted to return to south-east Asia and as a qualified and experienced school teacher I felt that this was a route which would provide me with a level of income sufficient for my needs. And so it has generally proved.

When I first arrived, at the tail end of 1987, I had been recruited by EEP, a language institute in South Jakarta, equipped with an internationally recognised Certificate in TEFL (CTEFL), gained after a grueling six week course in London at a cost of £1,000, an 18 month contract, somewhere to live and a return air ticket. I then learned the intricacies of syntax, grammar, collocation, phonetics and other confusing stuff, as well as how to pass on the knowledge to bright non-native speakers of all ages (6 - 83 years), at all levels, from elementary (SD) to university, and the full range of courses, from general to specific purposes (e.g. business), and academic, including international exams (the UCLES suite, ToEFL, IELTS).

When I arrived, there were as many as 50 similarly qualified colleagues, although I understand that this particular establishment has since shrunk to just a small branch in Bandung. The head office of another company I worked for, ILP, had 2,000 students passing through the doors of its main centre every week and employed 60 native speakers, all university graduates with a CETFL, and 40 Indonesian teachers of English who had 'graduated' from in-house training courses whose instructors were native speakers such as myself.

Then in 96/7 the Asian Economic Crisis (krismon) hit, swiftly followed by the civil unrest which unseated Suharto and ushered in reformasi. This lead to a massive exodus of expatriates, not only teachers. I surmise that most of the native speaker teachers who remained did so out of a contentment with family life here (e.g. me), out of a perceived lack of opportunity 'back home', or their sheer indolence.

Apart from a few plum positions with universities, or foreign government sponsored organisations such as the British Council and the Indonesia-Australia Language Foundation (IALF), all language institutes then had a simple credo - bums on seats. In other words, they were profit-driven.

New business models were set in motion. ILP, for example, followed the franchise route. Their best local (Indonesian) teachers were recruited to be the principals, known as Academic Co-ordinators in the international chain EF which provided the franchise model. ILP's in-house training programme for new teachers was shortened to three weeks from the previous four or five. Native speakers with an in-depth knowledge of the cultural norms of English and the reasoning behind the long-established methodology being in very short supply, inevitably and unfortunately the level of English and the quality of teaching has suffered.

New avenues of employment were opened in the formal school sector with the establishment of privately owned 'national plus' schools which were supposed to offer foreign curricula and, more recently, 'international' schools, which in the main have been classes within established schools which, although supposedly offering English native speakers teaching other subjects, have mainly been distinguished by the provision of air conditioning.

And this sector is where problems have arisen and the proposed 'solutions' offered by the Department of Education (Depdiknas) have thrown the TEFLing industry into turmoil, and its teachers into a state of insecurity, if not paranoia.

Not unexpectedly, one particular organisation, Yayasan Badan Pendidikan Kristen - Penabur, may have been the catalyst. I don't intend to go into my successful case (but yet to be finally resolved) legal case against them; if you want the gory details, my diatribes plus details of complaints from  parents, students and other teachers, then either search 'Penabur' in the box provided on the right or click this link on my 'schooling' blog.

In the early stages of the Penabur project that employed me, a member of the Board of Management told me in all seriousness, "Parents want to see a white face in the classroom." (He also referred to local teachers as 'monkeys'.)

Apart from the sheer offensiveness (and inaccuracy) of that statement, it was an indication that all was not well within Penabur, that they had lost sight of the core values of schools.

A year or so ago, parents of students enrolled in the 'international class' in a Penabur senior high school were horrified to discover that the supposedly qualified native speaker English teacher was, to put it bluntly, illiterate. They organised a protest, a delegation I understand, to Depdiknas.

As a result, revised employment criteria are now being enforced - apparently. I add that caveat because Depdiknas has not unexpectedly misfired in its aims.

I was first alerted to the issue by a couple of emails from a correspondent who works for the Australian company TBI (which stands for The British Institute, even though the shares of the original British owners, Bell, have been bought out by an Australian company). He wrote: The Ed Dept now has a checklist (at least in our case) - one of the things to be checked is whether we have HIV or drugs in our urine. Oh, and we have to have a sworn translation of our CV. I am now illegal here pending the outcome of all this hullabaloo. Bit scarey really.

The gossip has it that ILP, Wall Street, a recent American entrant, and a local start up company, AIM, have had to reassess their employment of  native speakers.

I have been unable to track down the checklist or a copy of the regulations issued by Depdiknas but if the above is true, then one must query the notion that an HIV test involves urine; surely it is blood that needs to be tested! As for a sworn translation of a CV, this is no guarantee of the truth therein. Besides, as a CV is a set of data - names, dates, addresses and the like - most of the content is untranslateable. It is as it is!

A bit of googling has produced a TBI online ad for overseas recruits dated 2010-10-05. I take this to mean 5th October, although it could well be 10th May, thus preceding the current paranoia disarray in the industry.

Qualifications
CELTA, Trinity or equivalent certification (120-hour face-to-face (not online) course with assessed teaching practice) and a university degree. We prefer teachers with experience, but are prepared to consider newly qualified applicants.
N.B. Please note, due to Indonesian employment regulations, we are only able to employ native speaker teachers holding passports from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom or the United States.

The benefits offered by TBI are as good as they get and the good news is that Irish applicants are now welcome. The original list, issued by Depdiknas some 15 years ago, of those countries which have English as the first language and which are eligible as recruitment sources did not include Ireland.

The bad news, is that there is no new news about the employment of fluent (and literate) English speakers in schools and universities. Whereas the success of language schools is largely determined by their popularity, best engendered through word of mouth, the same cannot be said of grade schools which are obliged to teach subjects determined by Depdiknas.

Native speakers of English are also recruited by the private school sector, dominated by 'national plus' schools and, more recently, by schools which label themselves as 'international' because they are expected to teach the curricula of other countries. Originally, international schools were exclusively for the children of foreign nationals, but since 2003 (Act No. 20, year 2003 on National Education System)², Indonesian nationals have been permitted to enrol their children.

These schools are not totally exempt from the dictates of Depdiknas as Indonesian children are required to sit the flawed national exams.

As the Warden of the fictional St.John's University in The Rebel Angels by Robertson Davies (pub. Penguin 1982) says, "Education for immediate popular consumption is more popular than ever, and nobody wants to think of the intellectual tone of the nation."

What needs to be understood is that the upgrading of English in schools requires a recognition that students have different needs based on cultural and emotional needs, as well as their individual skills, talents and 'intelligences', as well as 'content knowledge'.

Act No.20 states: English is to be used as the medium of instruction for science, mathematics and core vocational subjects from Year 4 of primary school and throughout junior secondary school, senior secondary school and vocational secondary school.

Teachers must possess the competence required to teach their subjects through English.

An analysis² of the 'international' schools points out that in 2007 and 2008 the Ministry of National Education, using TOEIC (the Test of English for International Communication) as its instrument, carried out a study of the English language competence of 27,000 teachers in 549 international standard junior secondary, senior secondary and senior vocational schools. 

The findings of this study (Depdiknas 2009) showed that more than half of all teachers fell into the lowest competency band (‘novice’, scoring between 10 and 250 points).  Meanwhile, fewer than 1% of teachers fell into the top two bands (‘advanced working proficiency’ scoring between 785 and 900 points and ‘general professional proficiency’ scoring 905-990 points). 

A little more online investigation produces the following recent quote from Education Minister Mohammad Nuh who said that there are 2.6 million teachers in Indonesia, and around 57.4 percent or some 1.5 million of whom have Strata-1 degree while the rests (sic) are still vying to gain teaching certificate.

Further research indicates that barely 40% of subject teachers are actually qualified to teach that subject. Christine Hakim, the noted Indonesian actress and a Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO, suggests that at least 2 million volunteer or part-time teachers are employed in Indonesia.

The TBI recruitment ad quoted above has been the norm for recruited native speaker teachers as long as I can remember; they (we) have brought untold benefits to Indonesians seeking advancement in their careers without the need to go overseas.
  
That Depdiknas is requiring that only native speaker teachers of English who have obtained a degree in education, rather than in other subjects, to seek employment in Indonesian schools is nonsensical when the criteria for its own 'local' teachers are nowhere near being met, and is yet another example of the bureaucracies' ability to mistake a tree for a forest.

This is not to say that the TEFL industry's standards cannot be improved, but a more considered approach is sorely needed. Teaching anything is not an easy option and, as in other countries, teachers do not enter the profession to financially enrich themselves. Teaching can be extremely stressful and the rewards are generally intangible.

Rather than implementing piecemeal 'solutions' which create further problems, the education sector - both private and public - needs a thorough review to ensure that national (and regional) social, rather than political, objectives are met.

As it is, the pluralism so often promulgated is showing signs of increased fragmentation.
....................................................................
¹ aka TESOL - Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages and TESL - Teaching of English as a Second Language.
²An interesting analysis of the problems faced by 'International' schools can be found here.
My title is taken from a post on Ross McKay's blog. The current problems faced by the majority of non-Indonesian English teachers here in Indonesia was, however, forecast back in February on the Living in Indonesia forum.

Parents demand refunds from school over alleged deception

In September 2008, Sungkono Sadikin wrote a letter to Kompass complaining about the deception practiced by BPK Penabur in its so-called 'International School' in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta.

I doubt that he received much joy, but then his complaints were centred around the lack of qualifications of the staff and that he didn't get the 'service' he expected as, it appeared, the management were "arogan".

That is not unexpected as this thread amplifies.

Today, I was pleasantly surprised* to read the following article in the Jakarta Post.

Having spent thousands of dollars registering his 6-year-old son at BPK Penabur International School in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, in 2008, businessman David Wongso was expecting to see his son’s education handled by professionals, he says.

However, David began to question the school’s credibility over the next few months when he found extensive English grammatical errors in his son’s worksheets from the school.

“Initially I just thought it was typos, but when I saw similar mistakes happening again over the following days I realized there could be something wrong with the quality of the school’s teachers,” he said.

David was among three parents who reported the 60-year-old BPK Penabur institution last year to police for deception.

After registering his son at the institution’s newly opened international school, David said he had felt deceived at information presented in the school’s promotional leaflet and magazine advertisement.

According to the ad and pamphlet, the school held a license from Cambridge University to apply its international curriculum. While the school did employ several native-English-speaking teachers, the claim about the license was not true, he said.

“After we checked the school’s status with the Cambridge representative for the Asia-Pacific region, we were surprised to find that it hadn’t got their official license yet,” he said, adding that he and 17 parents of first-grader students had subsequently requested the school return their money.

David had spent a total of US$5,700 — comprising $3,000 for an entrance fee and $2,700 for 9 months’ tuition.

The request, however, was rejected, forcing most of the parents to keep their children enrolled at the school.

It was only David and three other parents who finally moved their children to another school in early 2009.

BPK Penabur chairman Robert Robianto, however, said it was impossible for the school to return the parents’ money because it was their decision to register their children at the school.

He also denied allegations that the school had no license to run a Cambridge-based curriculum, saying it had secured a license for their international school in Tanjung Duren, West Jakarta, in 2006.

“We also secured [a Cambridge] license for our international school in Kelapa Gading,” he told the Jakarta Post.

Hasyim Widhiarto, Jakarta Post

Three years ago, Ukrida Penabur Internasional, the programme employing expatriate teachers in Jakarta, there were but two qualified school teachers out of  around 16 'teachers'. and not all even had the minimal qualification of a Certificate of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (CTEFL), which takes a mere five weeks to obtain.

Furthermore, Penabur does not have an international school per se. For that, they need approval from the country which sponsors it. In Jakarta, there are British, Japanese, French, German, Australian, New Zealand, Korean and Pakistani International Schools, and probably a few I've overlooked, whose staff may well have diplomatic passports.

It is largely irrelevant that Penabur has a licence from Cambridge University. This only gives permission to use a specific overseas curriculum. There are several good schools which have such a licence, but they are properly known as National Plus schools and to be acknowledged as such should meet the stringent criteria supervised and certified by the Association of National Plus Schools, as well as the overseas licence provider.

Unless Penabur has taken drastic steps in the past three years and grown substantially since establishing "international classes" which were embedded in and used the facilities of the already established schools in Tanjung Duren and Kelapa Gading, then they have no right to call themselves National Plus Schools, let alone label what they do as "International".
......................
*I say that I was pleasantly surprised only because it enhances my own case regarding the unfair dismissal of a colleague and I some three years ago. We won but are still awaiting the payout awarded by the Supreme Court.

Our lawyers have informed us that Penabur wish to continue their fight against us, even though there is no avenue for appeal, let alone grounds.

Whereas David Wongso is pursuing his case through police channels, we are considering a civil case as we have documentary evidence of visa and contract irregularities, tax avoidance, and intimidation of staff - both local and expatriate - as well as the financial deception of university students.

You would be hard-pressed to find any parents or staff connected with Penabur who do not have a measure of grievance.The few who don't are those whose charges win 'prestigious' prizes in various competitions and do well in the mechanical, knowledge-based multi-choice tests.

WE WON !!

Those of you who have been reading Jakartass for some time will probably remember that I and a colleague were dismissed without notice or due procedure by Yayasan Penabur. I blogged it here.

We took legal advice and employed lawyers to fight our case.

First we went through the channels of the Department of Manpower who found in our favour. Next we went to the Labour Court who, quite unexpectedly ~ except that this is Indonesia and little folk are rarely, it seems, dealt with fairly ~ found in favour of Penabur.

We therefore appealed to the Supreme Court, largely on the grounds that if we lost then each and every expat with a work permit would find themselves at risk in that there would be less legal protection than that afforded to Indonesia's migrant workers abroad.

We have been waiting for the Supreme Court's decision for over a year and today, finally, we learnt that they had found in our favour.

There are fine details to be sorted out so I'm not gloating.

However, I'm sure that all those teachers, parents and former students who have expressed support will be as pleased as we are. Thank you all.

Finally, in another case, Pak Chrismaryadi, School Board Member in charge of Penabur International Schools, wrote as follows: We are fully prepared and willing to stand up and fight for our rights in court. We had done this a few times before and we had 100% strike rate (won all the cases!)Well, now Penabur hasn't. Perhaps it's time that they reconsidered their treatment of employees and accept that this has been remiss in the past.

Fired Penabur Teacher Is Cause Celebré

It would appear that the management of the self-styled BPK Penabur International can't do much right.

Having been accused by a parent of being arogan, they're now facing yet another court case for unlawful dismissal, this time brought by Dr. Walter Tonetto who was hired to be Principal of Penabur International at the head office campus in Tanjung Duren.

He was expected to work on a tourist visa, a deportation matter, he was belatedly paid relocation expenses from Bali, he wasn't been paid anything for the work he did do, and, in spite of protestations from Penabur that he was sent various letters from management requesting a meeting, there is no proof that they were in fact sent.

He was in Bali arranging his relocation.

So they fired him.

You can read all about it on International Schools Review.

Do read the self-justifying Penabur letters citing their 'Christian background' as good enough reasons for doing what they do. It's worth noting that they claim to have a 100% success rate in legal cases.

The Indonesian judiciary has this month been rated as the most corrupt in Asia in a poll of businessmen and, according to Transparency International, Indonesians trust them almost as little as they trust the police.

So, how do you think Penabur achieves such a startling success rate? This blog is now open to all teachers, students and parents who feel they have been wronged over the years by Penabur.

Angry Students Write About Penabur

The following letter has been occasioned by the receipt of emails, over the past two years but several in the past month, from former students of BPK Penabur programmes. I am keeping their names confidential because, as one has written today, "if someone know that I give out this information, Penabur will do something bad for my degree, because as you know Penabur can do anything .... "

It is certainly time for the atmosphere of intimidation engendered throughout the educational establishments of BPK Penabur, among teachers, students - but not, thankfully, parents (see below) - to cease.
........................................

Greetings former students of Penabur.

Many of you may not know that I have been involved in a legal case for two years against BPK Penabur for unfair dismissal. Depnaker (the Department of Manpower) in our favour, but the judge at Pengadilan Hubungan Industrial (the Industrial Relations Court) overturned the ruling, a surprise as this is almost unprecented. We are now waiting for the Supreme Court to overturn the PHI ruling and find in our favour - again.

You can read about the case here in Bhs. Indonesia and here in English:

What is sad, but an indication that Penabur is not well-managed, is that there are many teachers, both local and Indonesian who have been treated badly by BPK Penabur, who have also had to follow the legal route.

I know of teachers, both local and expat, who have ended up in hospital following their very bad treatment by the BPK Board, and of another teacher who had to sell his house in order to sponsor his own visa ~ UPI refused to process his exit permit or pay for the work he had already done.

Not one teacher ever leaves Penabur happy. Happy to leave, yes, but only because of the very unhappy situation they find themselves in, and very rarely, if ever, on mutually agreeable terms.

Not only teachers, but parents and, especially, you have been lied to, generally in the name of 'profitability'. To me, a lifelong educator, I find this to be both cynical and unforgivable, especially coming from an organisation which claims to be Christian. (Remember the story of Jesus and the moneylenders - Mathew 21.)

I have received emails from you, not only expressing disappointment at my dismissal, but also saying that you had misgivings about Penabur.

Some quotes:

1. I hope that you will win the case against Penabur... because my experience as being a student of Ukrida Penabur Internasional for almost three years was completely dissapointing ....

It started from the promises from the board member of UPI association, Mr.Sonny (Hartono). He promised the students that UPI would build a new building 1 year after my enrollment to UPI....but the fact is, there is no one single building for UPI!

Second, I graduated in November 2005 from my high school; one of the reasons why I chose UPI was that they promised that they will open the Foundation degree on Feb 2006. The fact was, they postponed the program until June 2006, ...so they lied to me for the second time....

Third, when I entered, UPI promised us that they will give native and expat lecturers, but we had many more local lecturers rather than native... the comparison is 1 native lecturer and 5 local ones, so we didn't really experience an International Environment like UPI promised to the Students and Parents.

2. All the foundation students don't agree with the increasing for tuition fees .... because at the first time we join the UPI, Chris (the former head of Curtin Uni sponsored programme) said that there would not be any raise. UPI increases the tuition fee, but they doesn't improve the fasilities such as computer access and student lounge ..... The Internet connection is also very bad ..... I don't know why they are doing this to the students.....

3. Our Accounting lecturer was an ex-pilot and had no experience in teaching but there he was.

I heard that Curtin wanted their students to move to Curtin Perth or Sydney on their third year, but UPI refused to cooperate and they said their students have to finish their studies here, unless the students actually wanted to move there. Thus, Curtin decided to cooperate with INTI College here instead.

4. From a former Senior High School student, now working in the USA.
I was disappointed to some of their decisions on P321 and PPBS. Other than that, they do need some serious wake up calls. I really hope you win this case.
(P3-21 -> Program Pembinaan Pemimpin - Abad 21 -> Leadership guidance program for 21st century.
PPBS -> Program Pembinaan Bakat Siswa -> Student talent guidance program.)
...................................

If any of you still have grievances against Penabur, I would like to hear from you and I will respect your privacy and confidentiality. You can email me here.

Anyway, now that you are no longer a Penabur student, I hope that your studies and life are to your satisfaction.

Best wishes.

J
PS. Please feel free to pass this email on to former Penabur/UPI students

An Angry Parent Writes to Kompas

Now parents are beginning to realise that BPK Penabur prioritises income from student fees above educational standards.

Search for 'Penabur' in the Kompas archives and you'll find loads of stories about prize-winning students. Interestingly, the proprietor of Kompas, the respected Jakob Oetomo, started his journalistic career on the tabloid Penabur back in the 50's. That is why I'm surprised at the publication of this letter from a parent.

Dikecewakan BPK Penabur Internasional

Permasalahan diawali saat mendaftarkan anak saya untuk melanjutkan sekolah di kelas VII di Sekolah BPK Penabur Internasional Kelapa Gading, Jakarta Utara, tahun ajaran 2008/2009.

Saat pendaftaran pihak sekolah memberikan spesifikasi/keterangan/janji, antara lain proses belajar berlangsung hingga pukul 12.00 untuk sertifikasi Cambridge saja, atau pukul 14.00 bagi yang mengikuti pelajaran tambahan sesuai muatan lokal.

Guru yang mengajar adalah native speaker atau ekspatriat dengan sertifikasi Cambridge. Jumlah guru adalah dua guru per kelas masing-masing satu guru utama yang native/ekspatriat dibantu satu guru lokal.

Ketika tahun ajaran dimulai saya dikejutkan dengan pelaksanaan belajar-mengajar yang baru selesai pukul 16.35 belum termasuk ekstrakurikuler setiap hari Senin hingga Jumat. Setelah dihujani protes dari para orangtua murid, kemudian sejak 1 Agustus 2008 jadwal diubah menjadi pulang pukul 15.45.

Perubahan jadwal itu dilakukan dengan cara memotong jatah waktu istirahat siswa serta jam masuk sekolah dimajukan ke 07.15 dari 07.30. Lebih parah lagi guru yang mengajar cuma satu guru/kelas dan sebagian besar bukan ekspatriat seperti yang dijanjikan. Bahkan, beberapa guru tidak dapat berkomunikasi lisan secara baik dalam bahasa Inggris sebagaimana seharusnya di sekolah yang menggunakan kurikulum Cambridge dan menyatakan dirinya sekolah internasional.
Dalam perbincangan lewat telepon (15/8), Bapak Yadi dari yayasan dengan arogan menyatakan, memang mulai bulan Maret 2008 telah diputuskan tidak ada lagi sistem dua guru per kelas.

Ini tindakan sewenang-wenang setelah menerima uang registrasi (dibayarkan Februari 2008) sekian banyak terus melakukan perubahan sepihak tanpa mengindahkan janji yang diberikan pada saat penerimaan siswa. Ternyata yayasan/sekolah menghalalkan semua cara untuk mendapatkan siswa.

Sungkono Sadikin
Vila Permata Gading G 17, Jakarta

Penabur's Disregard of Indonesia's Manpower Law - 1

Comments on Process of Termination of Employment JP and TC by BPK-Penabur.
(NB. All Articles quoted are taken from Act No.13, 2003, concerning Manpower)

Article 46.1
No worker of foreign citizenship is allowed to occupy positions that deal with personnel …..
- David Nesbit, the Teacher Co-ordinator who signed the letters of termination, is British.

Article 57
(1) A work agreement for a specified period of time shall be made in writing and must be written in the Indonesian language with Latin alphabets.
- Employment contracts were in English only.

(2) A work agreement for a specified period of time, if made against what is prescribed under subsection (1), shall be regarded as a work agreement for an unspecified period of time.
- NO contracts were issued to NETs by BPK-Penabur from January 2005 until June 2006.

Article 59.7
Any work agreement for a specified period of time that does not fulfill the requirements referred to
under subsections (1), (2), (4), (5) and (6) shall, by law, become a work agreement for an
unspecified period of time.
- Ergo: the initial employment agreements signed in August 2004 by Sonny Hartono, as the representative of BPK-Penabur (the First Party) and JP and TC (the Second Parties) remain valid for an unspecified period, or until the termination is agreed by both parties.

Article 151
(1)The entrepreneur, the worker and or the trade/labour union, and the government must make all efforts to prevent termination of employment from taking place.
- The termination of the employments of JP and TC were arbitrary, with no reasons given, nor were the procedures set out in August 2004 followed.

(2) If despite all efforts made termination of employment remains inevitable, then, the intention to carry out the termination of employment must be negotiated between the entrepreneur and the trade/labour union to which the affected worker belongs as member, or between the entrepreneur and the worker to be dismissed if the worker in question is not a union member.
- There was no discussion or recognized procedure, let alone ‘negotiation’. (cf. Article 161)

If the negotiation as referred to under subsection (2) fails to result in any agreement, the entrepreneur may only terminate the employment of the worker/ after receiving a decision [a permission to do so] from the institute for the settlement of industrial relation disputes.
- A statement reinforced in Articles 153.2 and 155.

Article 153.2
Any termination of employment that takes place for reasons referred to under subsection (1) (none of which apply to JP or TC) shall be declared null and void by law. The entrepreneur shall then be obliged to reemploy the affected worker.
- Or is obliged to continue paying the salaries and entitlements cf. Article 155.

Article 155
Any termination of employment without the decision of the institute for the settlement of industrial relation disputes as referred to under subsection (3) of Article 151 shall be declared null and void by law.

(2) As long as there is no decision from the institute for the settlement of industrial relation disputes, both the entrepreneur and the worker/ labourer must keep on performing their obligations.

The entrepreneur may violate what is stipulated under subsection (2) above by suspending the worker/ labourer who is still in the process of having his/her employment terminated provided that the entrepreneur continues to pay the worker’s wages and other entitlements that he/she normally receives.
- NO payment has been made to either Second Party, not even that promised by BPK-Penabur in its letter of termination. Furthemore, BPK-Penabur has refused - in writing - to process the documentation necessary for residence and employment in Indonesia.

Article 161
In case the worker violates the provisions that are specified under his or her individual work agreement, the enterprise’s rules and regulations, or the enterprise’s collective work agreement, the entrepreneur may terminate his or her employment after the entrepreneur precedes it with the issuance of the first, second and third warning letters consecutively.
- No such letters were ever issued, nor were discussions held.

Respect for Employees by Employers and Legal Protection

Article 32.2
Job placement shall be directed to place people available for work in the right job or position which best suits their skills, trade, capability, talents, interest and ability by observing their dignity and rights as human beings as well as [providing them with] legal protection.
- BPK-Penabur has long had a reputation for treating its teaching staff, both local Indonesian and expatriate staff, with disrespect and intimidation. The summary dismissals within UPI are but one example.

Article 35.3
In employing people who are available for a job, the employers are under an obligation to provide [them with] protection, which shall include protection for their welfare, safety and health, both mental and physical.
- No health insurance was made available to expatriate staff in BPK-Penabur’s UPI programme from August 2004 - July 2006. During this period, at least one employee of UPI was summarily dismissed because of his ill health.

Article 86
Every worker has the right to receive:

• Occupational safety and health protection;
• Protection against immorality and indecency;
• Treatment that shows respect to human dignity and religious values.

- TC was fired during the Muslim fasting month, just prior to Idul Fitri. It was known that his family are Muslim.

Repatriation

Article 48
Employers who employ workers of foreign citizenship are under an obligation to repatriate the workers of foreign citizenship to their countries of origin after their employment comes to an end.
- At no time has BPK-Penabur complied with this Article, not even for three teachers recruited in Australia.

A Few Wise Comments About The Whys

With your no doubt vast experience of Indonesia and matters Indonesian, I always felt that your court case rather like second marriages, represented the 'triumph of hope over experience'.

Perhaps in this case it would have been better to have adopted the adage of 'don't explain, don't complain - get even'.

As far as the judgement goes it might have serious implications for the average Indonesian wage slave - but then how many of them can afford to take Balinese vacations? I'm sure that your indignation is real but is it righteous (or should that be the other way round?).

Just a thought!

Anon (but presumably Antisthenes - see below)
| "May 13, 2008, 8:50 am" | #
............................

Good points Anon (but presumably Antisthenes), but let me say that finding time and credit in order to meet one's first grandchild has to take precedence over other matters. It was also the first time we have left Jakarta in nearly two years!

As for Indonesians affording Bali, you'd be surprised how crowded it apparently gets during the school holidays. We were told that this year June/July will be virtually sold out.

As for second marriages or, as in my case, third, let me say that this one has lasted a darn sight longer. Practice makes (near) perfect?

And, yes, the judgment does have implications for EVERY employee in this country. But should I have lain down and accepted totally illegal, even criminal, actions against me, and seemingly every other employee in their employ.

Note that an Indonesian SD (elementary) teacher brought a similar case before the court at the same time and she lost too. We expats do, however, have the precedent of a Singapore International School expat teacher winning a very similar case last year.

Penabur's intimidatory actions - they refused our final pay cheques or to process our residence papers/visas etc. unless we dropped our legal process - will probably be the subject of criminal actions. After all, I am a virtual prisoner here, albeit with the full knowledge of Immigration HQ and my embassy.

Finally, consider the implications for foreign investors here: if there are no certainties about employment practices, then there will be (further) anarchy.

Expect to hear a lot more about this.

Jakartass | Homepage | "May 15, 2008, 9:28 am" | #
............................

This is Indonesia; wake up! You only get what you bribe in the law courts and expats are powerless; your KITAS is for year and entitles you to be employed on a limited basis as an "advisor". You don't have any rights in this country and you are wasting your time I'm afraid.

Going to the supreme court? A bunch of expat teachers...a howler!

Anonymous | "May 15, 2008, 12:22 pm" | #
............................

"You don't have any rights in this country"?

That is deeply flawed cynicism, Anon. So you are saying that Indonesian housemaids in, say, Malaysia and Hong Kong, who are the subject of an ASEAN treaty, are better off in legal terms than foreign workers employed here? And that's OK?

I wonder, then, if we shouldn't get in touch with the Korean and Japanese embassies as their nationals far outnumber us.

BTW. I'll delete any further anonymous comments, although I'll accept pen names.

Jakartass | Homepage | "May 15, 2008, 12:15 pm" | #
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Whilst I agree that you have been treated shabbily by all and sundry in this my point really was that your overall stance and position when viewed from an Indonesian perspective could be accompanied by a murmur of the ironical 'kasian' for perhaps in judging your case the powers that be could have been swayed by the following:

A Here's this well educated foreigner on wages of 10 times or more than those of a local of similar ability and background demanding extra because he feels that he has been treated unfairly. He wants to be compensated with additional highly paid income for which he will not be working. Well being rich can be irksome.

We weren't actually paid for our last labours, as they stated in writing that they would.

B As a wealthy non-Indonesian he can afford at least to seek compensation for his perceived wrongs. Poor people cannot. Additionally the evidence he presents is highly critical of his Indonesian employers in inflammatory language too. His point might be a good one but there is no reason to be insulting and rude.

Wealthy? Not all expats live in enclaves and send their children to International Schools paid for by their employers. Have a browse through 'my' book and consider how remote I am (not) from Indonesian (read Jakartan) life and culture.

Nope, I can't afford to lose, and my ex-colleague in similar distress and similarly unpaid, spent c.Rp.70 million in bribes in order to process a new KITAS because, as I said, Penabur refused unless he/we dropped our legal case. This intimidation is, of course, subject to Indonesia's Criminal Code.

C The judge's cousin's mother-in-law's brother did some business with the aggrieved party (thats the school not Jakartass) and he said expat employees are always moaning about something or other - you think with their money they'd have nothing to complain about but they do.

Actually, we dropped our first set of lawyers when we discovered that the husband of one of them was a land broker in cahoots with Penabur.

D If he doesn't like the way things are done in Indonesia he should go home.

I am home. I have an Indonesian family, and have lived in the same (rented) house for over 20 years.

E He seems to think that law and justice are the same thing - well they're not.

But shouldn't they be?

The above perceptions are of course only supposition but I think there might be a grain of truth in at least some of it.

My point I guess is overall why did you not just shrug and walk away? (or fire bomb the school!) as we all must do sometimes, I'm sure your employers only got nasty when you started 'kicking off'.

They got nasty before our treatment having intimidating native speaker teachers for the previous two and a bit years: in employing them on business and tourist visas, in forcing prospective employees to negotiate separately for salaries and in refusing to allow time to consider the job offers.

"If you don't want it, there are plenty of others who do, and for less money."

I know that the above is provocative and most of it is 'just suppose' but this case could be another 'Jarndyce vs Jarndyce' (who? what?) and do you really want your life to be dominated by this thing.

Sure it dominates. Funding a family whilst in a state of uncertainty isn't easy and it has affected my health - my hair wasn't white before. However, as Penabur didn't provide any insurance for their expat employees for the first two years, not even through Jamsostek, the state insurance company, as they were legally bound to do, the stress might well have got to me eventually.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that you're right but you're wrong.

Nope, I'm right and Penabur is wrong, terribly wrong.

Anon (but presumably Antisthenes - see below)
| "May 15, 2008, 12:25 pm" | #
..........................

My stance is really quite simple. In this so-called age of reformasi, as Indonesians begin to come to terms, after 40 years of cowed obeyance, with the notion of communal respect and individual responsibility, it is the rule of law, particularly internationally respected conventions to which Indonesia have become signatories, which should be paramount.

My arguments are certainly with my/our erstwhile employers, but I have, as yet, not written anything which can be construed as inflammatory. Anything submitted by our legal team, and everything I write, has documentation to back up our case - including my comments above about visas and intimidation. Oh, and a death threat.

That I have not been sued for defamation is possibly an indication or admission by the employers that they understand this and have, therefore, knowingly flouted both the civil and criminal codes.

As for demanding 'extra', we are claiming nothing more than our legal entitlements according to Act No.13, 2003, concerning Manpower. (I can give full verse and chapter, i.e. Articles, and probably will - later.)

BTW. I am home! And the head of my legal team is a neighbour.

I may have done better by going to the Human Rights Commission or to LBH (the Legal Aid Institute), but having the respect of the community I've lived in for 20+ years has to count for something.

As for the rights of all to be treated equally before the law. This is not just a personal matter, stressful though it is.

Jakartass | Homepage | "May 15, 2008, 1:21 pm" | #
.....................................

As I said before I feel that you're right, but wrong to pursue matters; injustice is all around us but living in a state of indignation, albeit righteous is surely not a healthy way of carrying on.

I agree that the insouciance of the general population here to serious breaches of human rights is a concern and that beating the drum for contractually sodomised expat teachers is a worthy cause to follow.

However is life long enough?

As for your comments regarding your horror for the flouting of the law and that something must be done and justice will out, I'm sure that yours is just one of many arbitrary, unfair and wrong decisions made by a legal system that, as I'm sure your neighbour will agree, is seriously flawed and essentially runs on graft and favour.

Read your previous posts regarding Tommy S and Munir and many more. I can only say once again with your long experience of the way things are that you optimistically expected that this time it would be different.

As for the threat to foreign investment that this ruling seems to pose, I can only say that many of the foreign companies presently extracting enormous wealth from this poor country may well applaud heartily labor laws that allow them to brook no opposition, and it must be faced that your test case might well help them along.

Also should we not allow the Indonesians to fight their own battles against injustice?

Till the revolution my friend and this time not anon.

Antisthenes | "May 15, 2008, 2:10 pm" | #
.....................................

For evil to exist, good men do nothing.

As you have noted, through Jakartass I have been championing the rights of underdogs. Now I've become one, are you suggesting that I should roll over and have my tummy tickled?

No fucking chance, mate!

I'm not going to google the source of the quote above, but to suggest that I should do nothing is somewhat naive, isn't it? Surely it's the personal which provides the focus and the essential fires in the belly for the fight ahead.

Jakartass | Homepage | "May 15, 2008, 2:30 pm" | #

Worthy Of Respect?

Foreigners wishing to make a life in Jakarta have a clear choice - live in enclaves with security to keep the riff-raff out or live at street level and interact with the local community.

I have now lived in the same house for twenty years; it was my choice and 'Er Indoors moved in a year or so later. We fit in: the postman, electricity meter reader and even the newspaper 'boy' are long-term regulars. There is a monthly gathering, arisan, which the housewives attend to swap gossip and to contribute Rp.100,000 to a collective kitty which is scooped by one mum on a rotational basis, or according to urgent need.

I very rarely hear the cry "Hello, Mister", nor is the word 'bule' (whitey) often uttered in my presence. The many young children in my neighbourhood ~ a very mixed community in terms of wealth, ethnicity, religion and lifestyle, whatever that is ~ generally greet me with "Good morning/afternoon, Om (uncle)".

So it has come about that the lawyers in my legal case against my erstwhile employers, Badan Pendidikan Kristen Penabur/Ukrida Penabur Internasional, have been appointed because a senior member of the firm lives opposite. It is happenstance that one of the named partners on the letter heading was once an Attorney General in the New Order era, and the other was on the staff of Try Sutrisno when he was Army Chief shortly before becoming Suharto's penultimate Vice President.

Obviously I have not sought out high profile lawyers. I cannot afford to pay their fees upfront, not least because BPK Penabur have yet to pay me for work that I did before I was summarily dismissed. Having legal representation has come about because of the respect I have earned over the years within this community.

Intimidatory letters and phone calls have been Penabur's modus operandi not only during the course of our - yes, I have an ex-colleague in similar distress - legal process. We also have affidavits and documents which suggest that intimidation has been endemic for a number of years, both before and continuing after our own case. There are well-founded allegations of visa irregularities putting the status of expatriates at grave risk of deportation, of tax avoidance, and even an attempted eviction and a death threat. This is all generally non-Christian behaviour unbefitting an organisation which claims to be at the forefront of Indonesia's education system.

There are further allegations of continued non-compliance with manpower regulations. Many, if not all, of our former colleagues (still) do not have legally enforceable employment contracts, and there are, to our knowledge, at least two other cases involving Penabur being dealt with by the Industrial Relations Court, one of which has been brought by Indonesian staff.

This will also be a concern to Curtin University of Perth, Australia, who are co-sponsors of the UPI-Penabur Business School. Their original commitment was with UPI, initially the Penabur high school native speaker English language programme, and they were involved in the original recruitment of native-speaker teaching staff, first in Perth and later here in Jakarta, as well as the supply of courses for extra-curricular classes.

There are no suggestions that their employment practices in Australia are anything but legal and above board, but we are sure that they would not wish to lose their good name by being associated with unethical and illegal practices elsewhere.

Penabur's lawyers suggested at one meeting, a meeting where they were castigated for not providing documents, that I was in breach of 'etiquette' by publishing general comments about the ethics of the Penabur board on the internet.*

They will be interested to know that this post is being published with the knowledge and permission of our legal team.

Full disclosure of evidence will be made here on the Performing Monkeys blog as soon as it has been stated in court. I will also give details of possible criminal charges that we anticipate will be made against senior officers of the Penabur Board, rather than the minions their lawyers have named and who have been deemed disposable.

The actions of these officers demonstrate that they are worthy of no-one's respect, let alone that of their employees.
..........................................
* Read the January 2007 archive, posted in order, for a series of background posts on Penabur's "Christian" philosophy.

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 .... 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.