Posters may be interested in this link. Kristof is a prominent journalist in the USA, esp. in the area of humans rights.

https://twitter.com/NickKristof/status/ ... 69760?s=04

There is a reference to the McMartin Trials in the 80s in these tweets. There are definite parallels with this case. In both the trial of the JIS cleaners, and the trial of the 2 teachers, the defence had expert witnesses from overseas come in to explain the McMartin trials and what is now best practice in regards to interviewing children about suspected sexual abuse. Sadly, all of their evidence was ignored.

What follows is a statement that has been released by Neil Bantleman.

Neil Bantleman’s statement

"I would like to start by thanking everyone who has stood by Tracy and me and our families over the last nine months and who continue to do so. We are truly humbled by the support and love that we have received and take great comfort in knowing we have so many wonderful people in our lives. This has solidified our faith in the goodness of humankind. I feel fortunate to have the unconditional love of my beautiful wife, family and friends and could ask for or want nothing more. The individuals, groups, friends and strangers alike working on our behalf to share our story, to fight for us and for justice have been truly heart warming and reassuring. I thank you all. We must continue to be strong and to fight for justice and truth; failing to do so is a threat to freedom and justice everywhere.

The decision rendered on Thursday April 2nd by the panel of judges was an appalling demonstration of the current state of the judicial capacity of the South Jakarta District Court. We are saddened by the decision, yet not entirely surprised. We have become painfully aware of the challenges for those seeking justice and the lack of consideration for actual evidence or expert testimony. World-renowned experts presented the judges with current research, scientifically based medical evidence and examples of best practices. Yet they chose to ignore it all and be willfully blind to the truth.

The panel of judges dismissed every expert and factual witness presented by the defense, as well as the submission of exculpatory evidence and relevant information that casts serious doubts on the allegations of abuse. What the judges chose to admit was unscrutinized and unsubstantiated information from a police dossier that contained numerous flaws in theory, practice and legality. The inclusion of testimony from an entirely different case, which was never entered into court proceedings, medical conclusions that violated doctors’ oaths, and opinions based on hearsay from unqualified clinical psychologists acting outside their areas of expertise are just some examples of the multiple issues that exist. This decision was merely based on a repetition of information copied from a police dossier. No valid legal consideration was used to draw their conclusions. When the entirety of a defense is ignored, twisted or omitted, this must raise serious questions as to how anyone could ever put forth a defense?

The judges held the trial behind closed doors, allegedly due to child protection issues, but then completely violated this article of law by releasing the names of all of the alleged victims, and the acts allegedly committed against them, during the open court reading of the verdict. This demonstrates a complete lack of understanding or commitment to the fundamentals of child protection. Standard practices, such as the embassies’ attempts to gain access to the court, the defense discussing the case in the media and writing letters to the district court, and the submission of thousands of letters of support, were grossly misinterpreted as tactics to force a certain decision and to intimidate the judges. The same actions were then listed as aggravating factors in the sentencing.

This conviction is a malicious attack on Ferdi and on me. We were the targets of a judge who seemed to be set on seeking vengeance on an entire school community, the media, and international diplomatic representatives. This decision was not based on legal facts but was the culmination of a highly questionable investigation, prosecution and court proceedings. It is our hope that these proceedings will shed light on the many issues that have arisen and instigate change in police and legal processes within Indonesia.

For those charged with the responsibility for change, the time to act is now. Don’t let the mistakes of the past affect the potential for the future. We are hopeful that the next level of the judicial system will scrutinize this case carefully and seek to rectify the numerous issues and errors committed, setting Indonesia back on the path to true justice and the elimination of corruption and evil. For the sake of all, justice must be served. Our fight is not over yet. I have lived in Indonesia for 5 years and never once has my admiration and respect diminished for the community of Indonesians I have met; it has only grown stronger each and every year. Though I have been tested and tried, and treated inhumanely like this, I still have faith in Indonesia. The people of Indonesia are better than the label of a corrupted country. Together, Indonesians will break free from the stigma – letting truth and justice be upheld in the struggle to live a righteous life."

lulutooz wrote:
> Hallier -
> thanks for posting those links - much appreciated.

You are welcome - I can imagine that any teacher currently working in Indonesia must find this case very frightening.

Sometimes you have to be brave and stand up for what is right, PG.

If someone confronted me about my support for these 'convicted child sex offenders', I can only hope I do a better job of convincing them of my actions than I have done of convincing you.

What follows is the twitter address of Neil Bantleman's wife - https://twitter.com/TBantl

She posts some links to details about the McMartin case in Florida in the 80s. In that case, some innocent folks became 'convicted' child sex offenders. Thankfully, with support, they were able to prove their innocence and now in the USA at least, the ways in which children are interviewed has been changed so that such miscarriages of justice are less likely.

PG - I give up. You're not going to convince me and I certainly won't be able to convince you.

For those who have read about the case and are interested in offering support, there are 2 Facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1510822339131020/ (this is public and was started by Neil's brother) and https://www.facebook.com/groups/withyouneilandferdi/, which was started by JIS parents and teachers.

I hope most international school teachers on this site will offer their support and won't take the position of PG, which was best summed up by his line: "No offense, but I don't want to show support for a convicted child sex offender."

Thank you Senator and Interteach for your responses. However, I suspect that a lengthy missive from PG is on the way.

A visiting author came to JIS earlier this year and posted this. It does give a neat summary of the implausibility of the prosecution's case. http://www.chriscrutcher.com/free-neil-and-ferdi.html

Crutcher does cite a Lie Detector test, which he claims did not point to the guilt of Neil or Ferdi. To give you a taste of how ridiculous this trial was, at the trial, the police witness said that many of their answers to questions in the polygraph test did indicate a "defensiveness" in answering questions. When the judge asked to see the data, the policeman told her that he had left it at the police station. The judge asked him if he could draw the results. When Ferdi stood up to complain, he was yelled at and told to sit down.

I am not making this up. The polygraph test was used by the judge as one reason why she found the 2 men guilty.

To believe the prosecution's case (and the judges' decision) you have to believe that 1 child was sodmized, over a period of months, by a half a dozen different cleaners and then also by 2 teachers, without, at any time, exhibiting physical or emotional distress at school (or at home until March 2014). As one of the expert witnesses whose testimony was ignored by the judges said, any small 5-6 year old child who endured that degree of physical violence would have been unlikely to survive. The child was also taken to at least 2 doctors in Jakarta and 1 doctor in Singapore who examined the boy and could not see signs of rape. The medical testimony used to imprison the cleaners and the teachers was from the Jakarta Police Hospital. The testimony from the other doctors was either ignored or ruled inadmissible by the court.

Desperately sad and certainly deserving of empathy and compassion.

I would be interested to know if any educators who are following this post thinks what PsyGuy written has any merit whatsoever.

If u do, let me know and I will try and do a better job to outline that there is really 0% chance that these two men committed any crime against any of these children.

I am not going to try and convince this guy. The reality is following those 6 steps he just outlined would have done these 2 men no good whatsoever. Ferdi, for example, had never even met the boy. One of the cleaners who was convicted in December was not even rostered on duty at the time the 'offence' took place - all of this evidence was ignored in both cases.

I was just reading Cherry's post.

I may have misread your understandably emotional response to that post but:

1. There has already been a copycat accusation of abuse at a prominent National Plus school in Jakarta. They even state the abuse takes place in a secret room. I think there is a lot for schools to feel very nervous about in Indonesia. http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015 ... sment.html

2. The mother who started this whole catastrophe was quoted on the night of the verdict as saying there were more instances of abuse and more students and teachers are involved. If I was a teacher at JIS, I would be feeling very nervous right now - keep your passport at hand.

3. The way the judicial system handled this case (combined with social attitudes in Indonesia) created something of a perfect storm in which this disaster could unfold. I find it inconceivable that in most developed countries a judge could as part of her judgement claim that the accused inserted a 'magic stone' (her words!) into the child in order that the child would not feel pain during the assault - that is space cadet stuff. There was the McMartin Case in the US in the early 80s. I think if you live in a country that has 'rule of law', you are vulnerable to accusations, but not nearly to the same extent as in a country like Indonesia.

Heartbreaking outcome for Neil - and for the teacher assistant, Ferdi, as well as the cleaners who were imprisoned in December (and the cleaner who 'committed suicide' in prison).

Have not spent much time on this forum lately, but interesting to see Psyguy is still here stirring the pot.

Please consider that in this case, many of the posters are quite close to the case and suggesting there may be merit in the prosecution's case is incredibly hurtful.

Any perusal of the evidence, as well as the history of corruption in Indonesia, as well as the astonishingly blunt comments of the US and UK Ambassadors, should not leave any reasonable person in any doubt as to what is going on here. To suggest otherwise strikes me as just being cruel.

No need to read on if u are not interested, but this article was published in an Indonesian publication dedicated to reform of their judicial system. The language is a bit clunky as it has been translated; however, it does give some insight into the impossible position JIS and their teachers were placed in. Of course, just googling this case and reading some of the international coverage of the verdict (or go online and read The Australian or the Sydney Morning Herald) should hopefully support what I said in the previous paragraph. Anyway, here is the article from http://www.reformasi.info/

In the alleged child sex abuse case against educators from the Jakarta InterculturalSchool (Jis), a key expet defense witness was unable to testify publicly because the civil-case plaintiff failed to appear. Lawyers expressed concern that the plaintiff, a mother suing Jis for Rp1.5 trillion, is manipulating the legal system.

In the criminal case, Head Judge Nur Aslam Bustaman made an extraordinary decision last December to impose a gag order, prohibiting litigants from discussing any details of the trial in public. However, in the civil case, handled by South Jakarta District Court Head Haswandi, no gag order can apply. Therefore, the session scheduled for 26 March had provided an opportunity for the defense to finally publicize the testimony of an expert witness, Kevin Baird, a microbiologist from Oxford. However, the plaintiff, with no explanation, failed to appear – and therefore Haswandi postponed proceedings, denying Baird an opportunity to speak.

Furthermore, Haswandi imposed an unusual two-week postponement of the trial proceedings, rather than a customary one-week period. The next court date is 7 April. Meanwhile, in the criminal trial underway separately, a final verdict is due on 2 April.

-: It is highly suspicious that a plaintiff, who is seeking Rp1.5 trillion, would fail to appear for a civil-court trial date without providing any explanation. Under ordinary circumstances, such an unexplained failure might jeopardize the plaintiff’s prospects for winning the sought-after award. Ample reason exists to suspect that the plaintiff’s maneuver is a deliberate ploy to prevent Baird’s testimony from receiving media coverage. Also, the plaintiff’s readiness to miss a court date, with no explanation, suggests that the plaintiff is confident of retaining the judge’s favor regardless of their conduct.

Meanwhile, the judge’s unusual decision to schedule a long two-week delay – until after the criminal case verdict date – sends an ominous signal. The judge, Haswandi, has received criticism in the past for issuing exceedingly light sentences for corruption convicts. Haswandi was also a member of the three-judge panel that acquitted the National Intelligence Agency Deputy Maj Gen (ret) Muchdi Purwopranjono, who had been accused of masterminding the assassination of the human rights activist Munir.
The erratic conduct of the criminal and civil cases in the South Jakarta court suggests that the Jis educators, Neil Bantleman and Ferdinant Tjiong, will receive prison sentences when judges read the criminal verdict next week. The case patently lacks admissible evidence: there is no physical evidence or adult eyewitnesses, and the claims made by a six-year-old child should be inadmissible in court (although judges appear to be neglecting this). Meanwhile, there is reason to suspect that collusion exists to besmirch, extort or close Jis.

The latest maneuvering in the case also hints that judges are, as Reformasi Weekly has maintained, sensitive to media reports in the ‘court of public opinion’. If the judges were unconcerned about media coverage, they presumably would not have impaired Baird’s public testimony by imposing the unusually long delay for the next court date.

A guilty verdict against the Jis educators will underscore the risks that face operators in Indonesia. Unpredictable and predatory legal-system outcomes significantly elevate potential hazards for businesses. In turn, by elevating the country risk premium that affects decision-making in the financial sector, these conditions tend to inflate interest rates and, consequently, hike operating costs for all economic actors (foreign and domestic, corporate
and consumer).

For the Widodo administration, the situation underscores the difficulty of improving Indonesia’s international image and boosting investor confidence, when meaningful efforts towards institutional reform are still lacking.

For the Jis educators, if the court produces guilty verdicts, appeals to the Jakarta High Court will be possible – but the process would be lengthy and the defendants would remain in prison in the meantime. An adverse ruling from the High Court would be subject to further appeal to the Supreme Court. In the previous decade, Supreme Court verdicts were often more reliable than those from lower courts, but indications from certain controversial cases in recent years suggest that this has been changing.

BOTTOM LINE: A dubious move to prevent public defense testimony in the Jis case signals the likelihood of guilty sentences for two educators, despite a lack of any evidence.

Could you go back to the school in Malaysia and do another 2-3 years?

I'm a little anti-Saudi as a place to go;)

You do want to make sure with schools in Saudi (and the region generally) that you only go choose schools that have a very large % of expatriates.

I have been in international schools for over a decade now and those teachers who work in the Middle East at schools populated largely by local students rarely have a good time - in fact, for most, it is a terrible experience.

Of course, it's always dangerous to generalise, but that has been my experience.

All the best with your job search:)

@Climberman - do you really want to go to Saudi?

A senior math teacher with IB experiences (and MYP to boot) would be very marketable at a job fair (and before that). If your references are good, I'd imagine there would be plenty of schools in slightly more attractive places that would offer that savings potential and potentially employ you (Singapore, Thailand, China, Malaysia etc etc).

Try Guangzhou - AISG.

Air quality not great, but better than Beijing/Shanghai.

The city is not as interesting as those 2, but you are close to HK and Macao.

Trust me on this one. I do not know who @thekatabroad was talking to, but I am in Jakarta now and know for a fact that the behavior of the owners of this school towards their admin and teachers was reprehensible.

Such as shame because that school was going places - becoming a genuine competitor to JIS and the British School.

Not any more.

Steer well clear of this operation.

Thanks to those posters who have responded to the OP's concerns about JIS and the child abuse situation - it is becoming increasingly apparent that nothing happened and no abuse took place.

It is such a shame that folks are wary of the school because of this story - it was always a safe place for kids, and after this tragedy, is not even safer.

There WILL be a lot of vacancies this year.

And it is a great school for young families, as household help and childcare is so affordable, and the JIS community offers so much for young children to do.

One challenge is that schools like JIS prefer 1 child per teacher, and tend to steer clear of large families. However, that is not to say they would not hire a couple with 3 children. Their conditions stipulate that the school will sponsor 2 dependents per teacher, so they will pay for up to 4 kids for a teaching couple.

Good luck with your search:)

Definitely the schools in Switzerland.

Although a lot will depend on your lifestyle, as eating out etc in Switzerland is crazy expensive. You will also have to be realistic and modest in your choice of housing.

If you qualify for a tax exemption, then Germany has saving potential, but you would have to leave after 2 years. You'd save nothing when you are there, but when you leave at the end of the 2 yr contract, you'd get your tax back (which is about 40-44% of your salary). That would be a tidy sum!

A shame that someone is trying to hijack this thread.

I can guarantee that the school is doing everything within its power to support the expat teacher, and the Indonesian Teacher Assistant.

It has also been heartening to see that many other international schools have been showing support to the school.

The two petitions I mentioned in my 1st post are still open and your support would be appreciated.