MADE'S ANGELS - The Support Group

Made’s Angels — Two Sides to Every Story:

A group in Bali demands to be heard.

The Newest Angel—

After seven years, all the passions stirred up by Made's Angels remain as poisonous as ever in this letter from...

Suarti Geni Luce

February 2014

Starting in 2007 an organization consisting mostly of expatriates and calling themselves Made’s Angels sent emails throughout the Bali community, “countless” letters of support to Made Jati, notarized letters to the court in California, and, as near as I can tell, threatening emails to my children and me.

Aside from the final chapters in which my children and I receive the threats which drove us from Bali, Made’s Angels don’t appear in Eleven Demons.

But they’ve had an effect on us.

As Nigel Mason—owner of Bali Adventure Tours and Elephant Safari Park, who described himself in a court document as “I am probably one of Bali’s best known expatriates and have a high reputation for being one of the island’s most respected and successful businessmen,”—made clear, I was persona non grata in Bali, never to be welcome on the island again.

My children and I have never been back.

Made Jati introduced their letters and emails to the California Superior Court as follows:

But for the overwhelming support that I have received from my family, friends and the Balinese community I would not have survived this ordeal. Attached hereto as EXHIBIT “C" are true and correct copies of only a handful of the numerous declarations which have been written on my behalf in the hopes that I will be able to see my children. There is now a special support group in Bali called Made's Angels made up of friends, associates and people from the community whose goal is for the truth of this matter to come out.

—Made Jati, Declaration to California Superior Court, April 2008

Those letters of support—many notarized—included statements by:

  • Nigel Mason (owner Bali Adventure Rafting and Elephant Safari Park)
  • Jean Lane (owner TJ’s Restaurant, Kuta)
  • Mark Keatinge (owner Tropical Building Systems)
  • Ni Wayan Sadi (owner of Lemongrass Restaurant)
  • Max and Colette Hunt (owner of Travel Mode Asia)
  • Mark Moody (owner of Bali Aquatic Safety Services)
  • Mike Bradford
  • Ni Made Ringan (owner of Bali Design)
  • Ni Wayan Netri
  • Richard Pearse (B.A., M.Ed.(Sydney), A.M, PhD (Stanford))
  • Vicki Podolsky (Hyatt)
  • Anna Jordan

She included an anonymous email broadcast throughout Bali by Made’s Angels:

“We are a group of people – mothers, fathers, adults, children – Who have come together to support a dear friend of ours, Made Jati. Let us begin in explaining the purpose of this email. We do not want to generate aggression or argument, invite hostility or anger – We merely want to inform the community of the TRUTH of Made Jati.”

They worked hard to present a different version of events.

From Nigel Mason:

“Any court should examine the inconsistencies of his story…”

And Mark Moody:

“I would urge the courts to look more closely at the grounds for their decision and not accept here say (sic) or unfounded accusation from the fraternal (sic) father of the children…”

But their actions did not quite match their words. They refused to talk to me, made no effort to mediate, rejected any discussion, hung up on me when I called.

And the courts were frustrated in any attempt to look more closely at the story by Made Jati’s refusal to testify.

Made’s Angels had no documents, although they complained bitterly that I had posted documents on the uluwatu.com website and discouraged anyone from reading them because they were about a private family matter. Then they broadcast their concern about our private family matter all over the internet.

Bules can’t really affect the law in Indonesia of course.

But bules can make life miserable for other expatriates. They can issue threats. And they can supply testimony.

 

Two Sides...

It’s true there are two sides to every story. But this doesn’t make both sides equally true.

In the following pages Made’s Angels present their side through letters and other documents which Made Jati herself presented to courts in California. And fortunately we also have many other documents written by Made Jati’s lawyers and by Made Jati herself, most of which were also submitted to courts.

If there was any ambiguity about events in Bali, events in California cleared them up: Made Jati fled California, on the advice of her attorney in Bali, Ida Bagus Wikantara, to avoid discussion of these documents. Made Jati’s Declarations, including the Declaration by Ida Bagus Wikantara, as well as trial transcripts are available as Summary Uluwatu I.pdf. Many other background documents are also available on this Documents PDF page.

And finally, we have our children’s attempts to talk to their mother, still going on today, at Talk To Bali: Letters to Our Mother in Bali. Talk To Bali is not the boys’ first attempt to reach their mother, by the way. They've sent emails to the members of Made’s Angels several times in the past, but the Angels ignored them.

On the one hand, you might say that whatever the Angels and Made Jati did happened a long time ago, maybe it doesn’t matter any more.

But the other side of the story is that the boys still don’t have a mother, she still refuses to talk to them, they still need help with college, and the court cases still continue while Made Jati refuses to settle. So in this sense, the damage done by Made’s Angels is deep, painful, and continuing.

 

It’s time now to let Made Jati and her Angels speak for themselves:

 

Angels in Court

Julie Duncan, Made’s attorney in California, entered all the Made’s Angels letters into the court, and she quoted directly from Nigel Mason in her Declaration of December 2008:

Any man who would keep a loving mother away from her children by using such loathsome measures, is not a man to be trusted by anyone least of all a court of law. To be honest she is well rid of him and all the people that I know say Bali is also well rid of Michael Donnelly. Made should be given full access to her children without hesitation and any further financial claims from Michael Donnelly should be dismissed as ridiculous. He had kidnapped these children and held them to ransom to try and gain both an emotional and financial hold of this woman. He should be ashamed of himself for both his greed and his lack of decency towards this woman who once shared her life, her business, her wealth and her bed without ever knowing that he had planned almost from the start to leave her with nothing. Not even her children.

—Nigel Mason, notarized statement submitted to California Superior Court, November 2008

The letters probably had two effects on the court:

  • Family Court is primarily concerned with ensuring a stable and cooperative environment for the children and setting up joint custody arrangements. The Made’s Angels letters, with their intemperate rage, ensured that the court would rule Bali out of bounds for the children even for a visit.
  • The court had already ordered Made to meet her children, and I had never tried to prevent her meeting them. The court only expected from her minimal cooperation with court procedures. In the final judgement, the judge made a point that “... the court gave the Petitioner so many opportunities to come back to court. The court gave the Petitioner as much visitation as possible every time the Petitioner was in town.” And extensive evidence before the court contradicted many of the Angels’ allegations. Apparently, Made had lied to her Angels.

The California Superior Court did look into the background of the case, at least as much as it could considering that Made Jati refused to testify and fled California.

The court then issued a Restraining Order against Made Jati and ordered complete physical and legal custody to me.

 

Julie Duncan Protects Herself

Julie Duncan withdrew as Made’s lawyer in March 2009, explaining to the court “I just need to protect myself.” In a Declaration, she explained:

“There has been a complete and total breakdown in the attorney-client relationship which has made my continued representation extremely difficult.”

(Attorneys may withdraw from representation to protect themselves from losing their license to practice law if they discover that their client has been engaged in massive deceptions. Julie couldn't say that directly, of course. Attorney-client privilege rules were still in effect.)

 

Salgado "disses" Julie Duncan

“If you don't mind my saying so, Julie Duncan is a really stupid lawyer.”

—Mr. Jose Luis Salgado (Made’s new lawyer), private communication outside California Superior Court, February 2011

I didn't mind Mr. Salgado saying so, and entering the Angels’ letters to the court was obviously a dumb move, but Julie Duncan’s possible stupidity was not the reason for the court ruling. In fact, Ida Bagus Wikantara, Made’s lawyer in Bali, had advised her to abandon her children and flee.

 

 

ULUWATU Boutiques has a lovely marketing story...

I know, I wrote it, and you can read it at the ULUWATU website.

But the true story of Eleven Demons opens the door to a starkly different reality.

 

 

 September 2015

Ida Bagus Wikantara disbarred for

“using the stupidity of his client to turn her into his milk cow...”

and more...