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Summary How Was It Possible?

Poring over the documents Made Jati had presented to the court and trying to understand my loss, I discovered:

• Made Jati had acquired a new Marriage Certificate at the Civil Records Office in Denpasar in 1996 without my knowledge, using documents she assembled starting over ten years earlier in 1986. Just seven months after our marriage Made Jati had established a secret unmarried identity for herself in Tabanan while maintaining a separate married identity with me in Sanur.

• Throughout our marriage, Made Jati and her family presented numerous documents to me in Indonesian for my signature. They explained that they were necessary for immigration or business or our family Hindu religious ceremonies, and I signed them based on trust for my wife despite being unable to read them.

• Made Jati’s two witnesses in the trial, her sister Nyoman Suti and Uluwatu manager Heru Widiyanto, apparently committed perjury by swearing they had witnessed the fictitious 1996 ceremony.

• The testimony of my witnesses was falsified and reversed in the court records so that they appeared to deny the actual 1994 Bali ceremony.

• My lawyers, Rifan SH and Fajar Harini SH, of Austrindo Law Office, aside from failing to enter available evidence to the National Court, did not enter a Memo of Appeal to the High Court despite telling me they had done so. Without a declaration of appeal to the court, my chances of winning on appeal were zero.

Made Jati Claimed a Bali Marriage in Kuta in 1996.

Made Jati, Michael and Sean in Sanur in 1994.

Made Jati entered this photo as evidence to court of a Balinese marriage ceremony at her father's home in Kuta in September 1996.

But this photo with our first child, born March 1993 and here one year old, places the actual ceremony in early 1994 at our family home in Sanur.

My problem in 2006 after losing in the High Court was what to do about it? There were clear indications of multiple crimes by multiple persons: False Documents, Perjury, Fraud, Collusion.

On the other hand, most friends with long experience in Indonesia advised me to abandon my children and flee Bali.

For a foreigner - or bule - to oppose a fraud in Bali, they told me, was hopeless.


What To Do Next?

It was indeed desperate for a bule to fight an apparent fraud backed by documents prepared over fourteen years and targeting millions of dollars worth of assets - particularly now that those assest were already in the hands of Made Jati's family.

If I gave in, however, I would lose my children and they would lose their birthrights. Their U.S. citizenship status would be thrown into legal chaos which could take years to sort out through complex court cases in both Indonesia and the U.S.

I decided to stay and fight.

Confronted with growing evidence that Austrindo Law Office had colluded with Made Jati, I eventually hired new attorneys, Maharidzal SH and Mangasi Simangunsong SH. They entered an appeal to the Supreme Court. As long as my case was under consideration I regained parental rights to my children during the appeal, but Made Jati kept control of our family assets.

But with Made Jati refusing any discussion or settlement or mediation, I had no choice but to report the suspected crimes to the police at Polda Bali.