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pril 23, Online

A suspected pedophile, whose criminal case is being handled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is reported to have worked as a teacher at Jakarta International School (JIS) for 10 years from 1992-2002.

The suspect, William James Vahey, had worked as a teacher in various private schools in a number of countries, including Indonesia, for four decades.

The FBI said it was convinced that many children had fallen prey to Vahey and it was now trying to trace those victims.

Vahey committed suicide in Luverne, Minnesota, US, last month, two days after a federal judge in Houston said authorities could continue its investigation into images of children on one of Vahey'€™s flash disks, the CNN-affiliated KPRC reported on Tuesday.

Your comments:

I watched a TV program on this case two days ago. One of the lawyers said something so disappointing. He blamed the parents for it and defended the school. I'€™m saddened by the lack of empathy among our society.

T Fios

As I understand from other publications that during Vahey'€™s teaching years at JIS, his wife was the school deputy principal.

I suppose this is how he could always get a teaching job in other countries as well.

How convenient!
Rottie

Like it or not, the Indonesian authorities are going to deal with JIS about this. '€œThis'€ isn'€™t just about JIS. This is now very much about the local Indonesian children that were likely victimized by Vahey '€” the prolific pedophile employed as a teacher by JIS for 10 years.

This criminal had a police record for molestation before being initially hired and then having his contract renewed year after year after year.  All of this was preventable had JIS administrators done their jobs.  How is JIS going to make this right with the Indonesian community?

JIS needs to acknowledge its shortcomings in regard to not properly vetting adults it employs/allows to work around young people at the school.  JIS needs to make needed changes in security and hiring practices so that these errors never happen again.  

The head administrators of JIS need to publicly apologize to the people of Indonesia for enabling a prolific pedophile to live among them and almost certainly prey upon children for a decade.

There can be a constructive outcome to this whole sad situation.  JIS could take on a leadership role and sponsor a symposium about recognizing and preventing pedophilia in schools and other settings.  

This symposium should involve representatives from schools throughout Indonesia '€” both domestic and international.  Representatives could then return to their respective schools to conduct training.  The symposium could even be held annually.  

Dolly Jolly

Last year, the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) stated that 2013 was a '€œyear of emergency'€, given the increased number of reported cases of violence and sexual assault against children, which reached an average of 45 a month; cases that included a number of infants who died after being raped by fathers, uncles and even, in one case, a grandfather.

The only reason this is all over the news is because of JIS. There is also a serious problem in Jakarta and people need to deal with it.

Mom X

All schools should learn from this incident. Please make sure that all the teachers'€™ backgrounds are checked before hiring them, including so-called outsourced security/cleaners.

Batik