Category Archives: IndonesiaAlea finishes up her years at JIS with a beautiful evening of pomp!
Well, today is the day.
After 12 years, Breck and Alea drove with me to school this morning for the last time. Alea graduates on Saturday, leaves on Monday for the US, and enrolls at Montana State University in the fall. Breck, Susan, and I are in Jakarta for another 2 weeks before summer vacation in Minnesota/Montana and then a move to Warsaw. Life as we’ve known it is being shaken up.
As is our tradition, the kids took a picture together before heading off. It is certainly a bittersweet moment, as it is the final one of them together at the end of a school year. In the next post down, I’ve compiled all the pictures from when they started together in Belgrade, oh so many years ago.
We’ve had a tradition of taking a “first day of school” and “last day of school” picture of the kids through the years, and it has been really fun to watch them grow up. Here are the shots, taken in Serbia, the US, India, and Indonesia over the past 12 years:
For all you all traveling this May Day weekend, here’s a little light from our last Lombok visit to warm your hearts. This was our first sunset of the week, with mist, haze, and rays cuddling Bali’s Mount Agung as the waves crash on Gili Trawangan. Ahhh….
Our school takes a week without walls-type trip every year, and so we headed out to Indonesia’s cultural center with 200 6th graders. We got to visit ancient temples, go white-water rafting, view traditional dances, and just do all sorts of fun stuff to wrap up the school year (and our time in Indonesia).
Bitter result of our colleagues’ trial this week. Corrupt legal system at the absolute lowest form. No evidence, no plausibility: no matter. She who pays the most wins.
I’ve copied some excerpts from articles that have appeared in the last few days for friends and family around the world who haven’t seen them. A lot of reading, but an important set of reading.
Wall Street Journal Indonesia Realtime Twitter feed (from the day-long verdict reading)
Twitter reports from the courtroom
The judges dismissed the entire defense statement submitted by the defendants and their legal team, including a medical report issued by a hospital in Singapore in May 2014 stating that there were no signs of sexual assault present in one victim who was examined. The report was certified by the High Court of Singapore in February 2015.
“We disclaim the medical report as well as the Singapore court document because we have no obligation to accept a court ruling issued by another country that is related to a case we examine,†Nuraslam said.
Officials from the country’s Indonesian Children’s Protection Commission had already accused the school’s administrators of fostering an environment that led to the rapes.
During a press conference last year, the head of the commission accused JIS of impropriety by tolerating kissing in public and employing gay teachers. Asrorun Ni’am Sholeh, the commission’s chairman, later added that “homosexuality in such environment could trigger sexual violence against children.â€
Sydney Morning Herald (note: this whole article gives a very good overview)
A prosecution witness, “sexologist” Dr Naek L. Tobing gave evidence Bantleman only had sex with his wife once a week, when the “norm” was every day or two to three times a week. As he also did not masturbate he would be seeking sexual outlets, he claimed.
He also did not masturbate according to the well-known Indonesian sexologist.
“There is a question how could he release his sexual desire,” said Chief Judge Nur Aslam Bustaman. “These conditions could create abnormal sexual behaviour.”
The other evidence — the boys’ testimony — includes allegations from one that he was raped multiple times during the school day in an open, heavily populated administration block with glass walls which teachers call “the aquarium”.
Among his allegations are that there was a secret underground dungeon somewhere at the school, and that Mr Bantleman, who was known as “the boss” clicked his fingers during one attack and reached up to pluck a “magic stone” out of the sky to insert in the boy’s rectum to anaesthetise him before the rape.
Other allegations include a female principal videotaping the attack and supplying a light blue drink to drug the boy.
They said that Mr. Bantleman and Mr. Tjiong, as well as the elementary school’s American principal, Elsa Donohue, had drugged and raped the children and other students in the school’s administrative offices, and that they had videotaped the assaults. Ms. Donohue has not been detained or charged with any offense, and no videotapes of the alleged assaults were ever found.
(Dave’s note – not one single US citizen, although there were at least 3 originally named as participants or witnesses, was ever arrested. Most here consider that the result of the US Embassy applying some pretty strong behind-the-scenes pressure, which is why many Canadians are outraged at the hands-off attitude their government has taken)
“We are very concerned about the impact of this proceeding on the rule of law and legal certainty,” said Lin Neumann, managing director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Jakarta, before the verdict. “Foreign investors, Americans in particular, have been watching very carefully,” he said.
Indonesia’s judicial system is seen as among the least credible and most corrupt institutions in the country, according to Transparency International.
Excerpt from a statement by Tracey Bantleman (wife of the Canadian educator):
It is disturbing to think that people cannot look objectively and critically at the facts; our husbands have been sentenced to years in jail based on allegations and opinions that could not be proven with evidence, even after a lengthy trial. My husband and Ferdi are victims of a malicious make-believe story with a multi-million dollar price tag.
U.S. Ambassador’s Statement on the Verdict of the JIS Case
We have been closely following the case of the JIS teachers. Any case involving allegations of child abuse is sensitive. Serious questions have arisen in this case regarding the investigative process and lack of credible evidence against the teachers.
In light of this, we are deeply disappointed with this outcome. We look forward to the next steps in the legal process in which we hope that all the available facts in the case will be considered. We hope that the legal process as guaranteed by the Indonesian Constitution will be implemented in a fair and impartial manner.
The broad international community is following this case closely. The outcome of the legal process and what it reveals about the rule of law in Indonesia will have a significant impact on Indonesia’s reputation abroad.
This link is to an overview of the whole series of events written by Chris Crutcher, an author who visited JIS 2 weeks ago (penned before the verdict, however).
Our final spring break in Indonesia, and we went to one of our favorite places for a week of diving and relaxation.
We headed downtown on a sunny Sunday to take in the Indonesian National Museum.
We’re getting ready to head to Thailand for the break, and part of my job is to prep all the technology. I was cleaning off the camera card, and saw that I’d never even looked at our “above water” pictures from Bali. One of the last shots of the trip was of this family coming down from a temple ceremony at Rambut Siwi, and I really like it.
Enjoy, and have a wonderful holiday!!
We headed to the tropical paradise of Bali for our autumn break, and spent a few of those days on the north shore diving. We’ve been to this area several times before, but not for diving. While we didn’t see the huge schools of fish that we’ve encountered in other places, we did come across plenty of colorful mini-reef life that kept our eyes occupied and our camera busy.
I had the chance to attend an Indonesian cow racing mud spectacle this weekend, and had quite the time. Pacu Jawi is a festival marked by, well, basically cow-surfing through flooded rice paddies. The riders typically grip the tails of two cows that are yoked together with wooden slats, and then hang on for dear life as they are stampeded through a flooded rice paddy. Outstanding stuff!!
I got to accompany a group of 8th graders on a week-long trip to explore local communities in Indonesia. We flew up to a series of islands just south of Singapore and spent 5 days learning about the local ways of life, mostly centered around fishing. We hiked, swam, boated, and interacted with kids at a school. All in all, a pretty good way to spend a week in May!
In addition to all the cool diving that we did, we also had the chance to see some pretty extraordinary sights over spring break. This album is all from our “above water” camera, to complement the diving shots posted the other day…
We took a few snippets of video of our dive to Manta Point. Here’s a 2 minute look at what we saw (with bonus narration!). Susan, Alea, and Breck are all in here (if only fleetingly).
We headed to the Indonesian island of Flores for a week in the sun. One of our “must do in Indonesia” items was to see Komodo dragons in the wild, so that was the impetus for this trip. The first pictures, however, will be from our diving adventures. We left from Labuan Bajo and went under the sea on 3 days (only 2 with a working camera!), and saw some wondrous stuff.
Happy New Year! Welcome to the Year of the Horse!
We hope this finds family and friends around the world enjoying peace, health, and joy as we embark on a new year.
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Our family continues to live, work, and thrive in Jakarta, Indonesia. This is our third year at Jakarta International School. Dave happily remains with MS math, Susan welcomed a move to Kindergarten, and Alea and Breck work hard in 11th and 9th grades respectively. Alea and Breck both play in the band and enjoy the rock-climbing club.
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Alea squeezes Model United Nations and pilates into her busy IB/AP schedule. She also joined Tri-M music honors society and JIS orchestra, a service group helping local children explore instruments and music. Breck joined the magic club and has also become quite the stage lighting and ‘green screen’ expert. He has been asked to support the theater and tech departments at both the elementary and high school. He will work at upcoming shows of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Wizard of Oz.
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Our family loves living life overseas as global nomads. We travel every chance we get and appreciate the diversity SE Asia offers. We launched 2013 in Cambodia and Laos, dove the walls off Bunaken, Sulawesi in April, and returned to Amed, Bali for more diving in October. We left on Dec 21 for three weeks of travel through Vietnam. We agree that kayaking in Ha Long Bay, clamoring through mud caves in Phong Nha, rock-climbing on an island in Long Ha Bay, biking through rice paddies near Hoi An, and eating our way through Ha Noi street food were absolute highlights!
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Breck and Alea, given a taste in their social studies classes, were especially intrigued with the (recent) history of this amazing country. We toured Vinh Moc tunnels near the 17th parallel and saw bomb craters (currently used as fish farms) all over Quang Nam province. We believe one of the benefits of living overseas is the multiple perspectives we gain and develop about any historical event or situation.
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Of course, summers in the USA always reminds us how blessed we are to have family. We always enjoy our time in MT, but this summer was especially rewarding because we welcomed Alvin Fletcher to the Strachan-Stutz clan. While we are biased, we do believe he bears a remarkably handsome resemblance to Breck. As always, we thank and celebrate the Helena Stutzes who take incredible care of us when we show up. A highlight of this summer was time spent with Blanche and the nieces and nephews at Hauser and Clancy Recreational areas. Hard to believe, but the kids have never been to Yellowstone; we think this summer is the year…
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Minnesota is always good to us, but we must admit that Door County, Wisconsin is pretty amazing. We spent a fabulous week there with the south-side Wagners fishing, cherry picking, and shopping. Best of all – we got all the smoked salmon we brought back through customs in Indonesia. Yum!!! Valleyfair with the Regan’s topped the kids’ ‘thriller’ hit-list and deck-time racing crawdads with the cousins at Grandpa and Grandma’s cabin on Lake Vermilion filled the ‘You’ll never guess what WE did’ quotient. Things as simple as shopping downtown, going to a garage sale, or attending a lake-side concert after berry picking take on a whole new meaning when enjoyed with family!
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We plan at least one more year in Indonesia. Alea will graduate next year from JIS; it is exciting to think about the future. We have spent time in the USA these past few summers looking at colleges and universities for the kids and retirement homes for the parents. Time will tell!
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We wish everyone all the joy and love of this season. We are fortunate and we know it. We hope you feel the same!
We headed off to a week in the sun on Bali’s east coast. Diving (scuba), driving (scooters), and dining (seafood) were the only things on our agenda. Our hotel was fabulous, and we went under the sea a few times as well. Here are a few shots from around our resort, as well as some of the undersea life we saw on our first day of diving. More to come!!
A group of us went downtown this weekend to visit the old Batavia boat docks in Jakarta. Led by a group of guys who have been there a number of times, we had the opportunity to visit and take pictures of places that few Westerners get to visit. I took too many photos to post at once, so here’s an album of some of the faces we saw along the way. Most of them are dock workers, more than happy to take a break for the cameras…
We spent a few days on the island of Sulawesi (where the yummy market food is) before diving at Bunaken. During that time we hired a car and driver for a few days’ worth of exploration and jungle adventure!
For spring break, the family headed to Sulawesi (formerly known as Celebes), one of Indonesia’s largest islands. In addition to eating traditional foods (see the other photo album), we spent a couple of days diving off the smaller island of Bunaken. Armed with a point-and-shoot camera and trusty underwater housing, we took a few pictures that show a little of the glorious beauty we found.
What could give us a more perfect welcome to Sulawesi than trying some food and drink that are tried and true yummies in the area? We headed off for a day’s trip, and ran into some true gourmet delights!
Our holiday season was festive and bright! We got the tree up and lights lit in November – the latest we’ve waited in a long time! The White Elephant was a huge success, and we had loads of fun getting everyone set for the holiday. Presents were opened on the 16th, and we are off in the morning for a 3-week adventure through Cambodia and Laos. Happy holidays to all!!
We pulled out the trusty underwater camera and headed to the sun and surf paradise of Lombok for October break. This collection of photos are from our below-water adventures…
Here are pictures from our recent trip to the island of Kalimantan (as it is known in Indonesia) or Borneo (as the rest of the world calls it. We had a fabulous 4 days/3 nights of living on a boat and exploring the back waterways of an enormous orangutan preserve.
The area was set aside in the early 70’s, thanks to the efforts of Birute Galdikas, one of Louis Leakey’s famed “Trimates” (or “Leakey’s Angels;” 3 female researchers that he worked with establishing long-term study centers for primates. Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey are the other two). The efforts have focused both on studying the animals and discouraging poaching and land misuse.
We took way too many pictures, relaxed far too much, and just generally enjoyed ourselves more than we deserve. We’d posted these pictures previously on Facebook, but also wanted to make the gallery available here.
Enjoy!!
Breck and I had a chance to go with our respective grade levels on an “Extended School Program” – what we called in India “Week Without Walls.” He took off for the beauty of Bali, and I headed into the terraced rice paddies near Bogor.
It was a week full of adventure and learning with 200+ 6th graders, and – while I am glad to be back – it was a lot of fun! Here are some shots from the week (the same ones posted earlier on Facebook). Enjoy (and envy me as I now prepare for my trip to Disney World!!):
