Stop defaming us!
Defending our good name and what we stand for.
It is unfortunate that I have to kick off my blog with this post to defend ourselves from someone hell bent on keeping us out of Northern Territory since we started our work in Darwin two months ago in early September 2023.
I am reporting here about a strong barrage of slander on social media against me and my company by Mel Schoonens on her WhatsApp group and supported by Yosua Ferdinand Musiamu and Linda Dendang. These people dare not openly mention our names but happily do so verbally to individuals.
Well, if they are telling the truth, then there should not be any worry about naming names is it not? For instance if you find a certain label on a product does not match what’s inside, you will certainly not be shy of naming the product and accusing the company of cheating.
We are naming these individuals because we have proof that they are actively defaming me and Chuah Support Services on Mel’s ULI WhatsApp group and she is actively joining other Facebook groups in a vicious campaign to smear both names widely across Australia and Indonesia. Unlike her, I have documentary evidence to support everything I say.
Misleading her followers.
She has been misleading members of her ULI group, stating that the Consulate had never heard of me and Chuah Support Services. How could this be true when in fact both names are known and well respected by the Indonesian Government. Why else would I have been invited to address the Conference Penempatan Tenaga Migran ke Luar Negeri by BP2MI in June 2022 representing Chuah Support Services (one of only 2 from Australia) – a conference that video-linked all Indonesian Embassies and Consulates worldwide? Were the Darwin Consulate staff asleep?
Addressing the Conference Penempatan Tenaga Migran ke Luar Negeri by BP2MI in June 2022.
No one at Darwin Consulate have heard of us?
A year later – Meeting in Consulate 03/05/23
This was the first meeting upon my arrival in Darwin where I introduced Chuah Support Services and a worker accompanied by his uncle.
The 3 Consulate officials on the right are (from left to right):
- Siuji Raja – Deputy Consul,
- Nusiaga Putri – Protocol Officer,
- Gina Fadila – Social and Cultural Information Officer.
Active member of Indonesian Business Council.
In fact because of my position in Trading Portfolio at Indonesian Business Council, I had been communicating with the then Deputy Consul several months before coming to Darwin. He had encouraged me to help place workers with the farms in NT as they were in real need of workers and he introduced me to NT Farmers, the peak industry group.
Deputy Consul Siuji Raja arranged meeting with Ian Forrest of NT Farmers.
Can someone join me in asking Mel why exactly is she doing this? I do not know her, have never met her and I have never had anything to do with her. So why is she up in arms against me and my company?
Actually, The Deputy Consul tried to arrange a meeting between Mel and me when Mel first launched her campaign against us. She declined saying she was overseas. Mel had ample opportunity to meet with me during my one month stay in Darwin but Mel never took up the Deputy Consul’s effort to sort things out – if there was ever anything to be sorted out. All her “issues” are really the product of her own imagination fuelled by Yoshua and Linda.
She pretends to be trying to protect WHV workers from us. From what exactly? From getting better real wages in accordance with Fairwork Australia (such as a minimum wage of $28.26 an hour)? From getting the rightful superannuation? From proper overtime payments (such as $42.23 an hour over the standard weekly hours and $56.52 an hour for Sundays)?
Other agents are out there – some good, some not so good.
Too many young workers are being exploited by other agents and “contractors” but she is SILENT about them and she attacks us instead – the one paying the right wages and really looking after workers’ interests.
She has been saying that she is “investigating” us since early September. Why has she not announced any real dirt? Is it so difficult to find dirt if we are really as bad as she says, resorting instead to waving yellow and red flags against us?
Is it her agenda to drive out the good guys and protect the bad ones so that they can continue the exploitation?
It really is not difficult to find cases of exploitation as it seems to be rather widespread in NT because on my first ever visit to Darwin (May 2023), it took only about 3 days for me to find and rescue 6 grossly underpaid Indonesian workers from a very abusive employer – moving them out of their lodging at the farm and placing them under the Consulate’s protection. And I was not looking for such events! It was just reported to me and I took action with the backing of the Consulate.
And she claims the Consulate had not heard of me or Chuah Support Services.
These unscrupulous employers and agents are still there and Mel does not raise a word of warning about them. She’s been living in the region very many years but is somehow totally blind to the these abusers. Yet she pounced on us almost the moment we arrived. Why?
In fact we know of one very well known agent/contractor (whose name everyone in the business knows) who had been operating and underpaying workers for many years. The information we got is that she and Mel know each other – why not, since farmers and others have mentioned this agent to us and even expressed the hope that we will not be like her!
Why hasn’t she warned new workers of such people? In fact she even declared that there are no agents in NT for farms, only for mining.
Those workers we rescued were getting only $18.00 per hour without any superannuation and no payslips. We, on the other hand, pay at least $28.26 per hour plus superannuation. We also obtained very good rates from farmers for accommodation (plus all meals and snacks in some cases), in one instance saving each worker $165 a week when compared to what some opportunistic farmers wanted to charge.
We only place workers with good farms or cattle stations.
Be smart, ask her questions.
We are fortunate that there are some ULI members who are smart and fair-minded and could see the wrong in Mel’s actions and sent us very telling screenshots and one even sent us the full text of the group’s WhatsApp conversation. They and most others know that she is referring to me and Chuah Support Services despite her not mentioning our names.
Do not be fooled. Ask her questions.
Please just ask Mel these questions. We cannot do so on her WhatsApp group as we are not members.
However, here in my own blog, I ask:
Mel, why are you so determined to damage us with lies and half truths?
And why do you not warn your followers about the real bad guys?
We are all waiting your reply, Mel.
A fine example of how Mel spins a story:
Recently, I was brought by a prominent Muslim leader to the Consulate for a Muslim Prayer event. I was not an officially invited guest as I am Catholic. Immediately Mel heard of this (must be from some Consulate staff) and spread this story of me attending an event uninvited and confusing the staff “Why is she here?”. It is obvious that I am a recognised person at the Consulate, which is why someone reported to Mel so that she can spin another negative story. Yet Mel lies to her group that the Consulate staff have not heard of me or Chuah Support Services.
She then goes on to say that the person who brought me in was only an Uber driver and I am only a cleaner. He is in fact Achmad Madji the Property Manager of the Mosque and owner of 3 successful restaurants in Darwin and is also my good friend and business partner. He also happens to be a close friend of Dominic, an administrator of Mel’s ULI group. Surely, Mel must be very close to Dominic to have him as an administrator. It seems so very unlikely that she does not know that Achmad is a prominent Darwin businessman who has lived in Darwin for around 30 years. Yet she tells her followers that he is merely an Uber driver.
Not many business owners get to address an Indonesian Government Conference let alone a cleaner! From her comments about selfies, Mel had obviously read our Website http://chuahsupportservices.com.au/about/. Therefore she knows about me and what I do. Yet she tells her followers that I am a cleaner.
Her followers should wise up to her manipulating their minds. Since she is so flexible with her “facts”, how can you rely on any of her advice?