Indonesia

I write this on Thursday 16 February, three days after leaving Indonesia. My intention is to try to put down the experiences of the last week in Indonesia and for you to see it as some kind of warning. A warning about the nature of people and how they can be.... the bad, greedy and very very nasty side of people's natures....
In October 2005, we decided to work with a group of people who were interested in becoming the local Indonesian franchise partner. The relationship was difficult from the start with some quite profound differences in opinion and thinking about how the business should be. Little did we know how difficult and dangerous these people are.
On Sunday 12 February, in the middle of what was an amazingly successful A1 event, put together
by our team in very difficult circumstances, our partner in Indonesia decided to make a play for the control of the business. But in a way that was and is profoundly disturbing.
He stated that Jack had offended the Indonesian president. Not possible given that Jack had not seen the president...
Jack and I were locked in a room and lives were threatened by 4 Indonesians. Jack was forced to sign an apology to the president.
The end result is that we left Indonesia on Monday in fear of our lives.
We are now working very hard to ensure that these people do not get the business or any part of it. The lesson really is this.... It does not matter how you may think that people have the same moral and ethical values as we do - many simply do not. Sadly, countries like Indonesia deserve the reputation that they have as unsafe, unfriendly, dangerous places. I will not be returning.
Always trust your instincts. It was my instincts that kept me safe, and my size, but mainly my instincts.
Awful human beings. The lot of them.