As she awaits the outcome of her son’s appeal of his sexual assault conviction in Indonesia, Neil Bantleman’s mother Corrine has sent an open letter to PM Stephen Harper, pleading for the government to act.

In the letter, written shortly after a visit with her son in Jakarta, she condemns Harper for staying silent during her son’s plight.

“Your Government's cold and stock response that Canadian citizens should assume responsibility for where they choose to travel and work smacks of an easy and cowardly abdication of your Government's responsibility to assist citizens who require help,” Corrine says in her letter.

Neil Bantleman, a former teacher at Calgary’s Webber Academy, was charged in July 2014 with sexually abusing three children at the Jakarta International School where he worked.

He was accused along with his teaching assistant Ferdinant Tjiong.

Both men maintained their innocence throughout a four-month trial that ended with guilty verdicts. They are currently serving a ten year sentence in connection with the alleged crime.

Bantleman's wife and brother loudly criticized the Indonesian court system throughout the trial.

Bantleman's brother, Guy, says the lower court has a 97 percent conviction rate. He accused the lower court of giving into public and media pressure in handing down the guilty verdicts.

"Until we get to the Supreme Court, we won't get a true hearing of all the evidence that was put forward," Guy Bantleman said.

Bantleman’s lawyers have filed an appeal of his conviction.

Meanwhile, a group of police officers, whose testimonies sent a former Calgary teacher to jail in Indonesia, are now under investigation themselves.

According to reports from the family, the police officers are being investigated by the Indonesian National Police Commission about alleged irregularities in their work.

Corrine’s letter to Harper is as follows:

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper:

 

I have recently returned from Jakarta where I visited my son, Neil Bantleman, about whose plight you have been acutely aware for over a year now: yet, you continue to remain stubbornly silent in the full knowledge that he is the victim of blatant injustice. I do not wish to revisit the anguish of that reunion but need to know how you could, in all conscience, seemingly allow this unspeakable situation to remain unattended. Your Government's cold and stock response that Canadian citizens should assume responsibility for where they choose to travel and work smacks of an easy and cowardly abdication of your Government's responsibility to assist citizens who require help. It was our choice to emigrate to Canada, over 45 years ago, blindly believing that our interests as citizens would be among our Government's top priorities but, alas, we have found to our dismay that such is not the case: instead, have found that our many, many requests for action have been sadly inadequate and ineffective.

What is holding you back?

My hope is that during your recent endeavours to expand trade with Indonesia, at the Indonesia-Canada Bilateral Forum, that your negotiations were based on Human Rights and that Neil's case was thoroughly covered.

My daughter-in-law, Tracy, and I had the opportunity to meet the Canadian and British Ambassadors in an effort to try and get a sense of the focus of their direction and felt somewhat reassured that Neil's predicament is very much on the agenda. May I be direct and ask if the Canadian Ambassador does the bidding of Ottawa - in which case, what is it? Will and courage appear to be gravely lacking, unlike Tony Abbot, of Australia who didn't shy away from openly defending even 'guilty' Australian citizens, striving to the very end for clemency, whilst my 'innocent son' and his wife, Tracy, continue to be not only victims of evildoers but that of a Government sadly bereft of moral courage, wilfully ignoring and heartlessly abandoning them in their great hour of need. The country and the whole world are watching in incredulous disbelief.

Do you recall phoning your Mother to tell her you were safe when you emerged from your hideout following that dreadful day on The Hill last year? Well, Mr. Harper, this Mother is also waiting for that much longed-for call from her son who friends describe as extraordinary, courageous, unique and rare, whom any country would be proud to call a citizen: I just happen to have the fortune to be his Mother.

May I please have answers to the few points I have raised - the time is long overdue.

Corinne Bantleman

(With files from CTVNews.ca)