Neil Bantleman and Ferdinant Tjiong are facing allegations of sexual assault against students. Photo: Michael Bachelard

A teacher accused of raping three pre-school aged boys has pleaded with a Jakarta court for the case against him to be thrown out.

"My name is Neil Bantleman and I am an innocent, upstanding member of society," the Canadian school administrator wrote in a letter presented to court on Tuesday.

"I have never committed any offence against any student or any individual throughout my entire teaching career."

Bantleman and Indonesian teachers' aide Ferdinant Tjiong, both of the prestigious Jakarta Intercultural School, are protesting their innocence at the South Jakarta court as their lawyers try to get the case thrown out.

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The application for an "exception" under Indonesian law was put in advance of any evidence.

Mr Bantleman and Mr Tjiong face long prison terms if they are convicted over the allegations of multiple anal rape. But the teachers insist they are innocent, and they are being supported at court by their wives, a large band of their teaching colleagues, school parents, and the school itself.

The defence argued on Tuesday that the indictment, which was presented last week, was "inaccurate, vague and incomprehensible", and was motivated by a $US125 million civil claim lodged against the school by one of the parents.

Under Indonesian law, a case is capable of being dismissed before it even begins, though this is extremely rare. 

The indictment said each of ten alleged acts of sodomy had occurred "at a time that can no longer be remembered between January 2013 and March 2014, or at least at a certain time between 2013 and 2014".

Lawyers for the teachers claimed this "long, dubious and vague" time period breaches Indonesian legal requirements, and means neither teacher can bring evidence of an alibi.

"The defendant has the right to defend himself by stating that he has an alibi on the day of the alleged criminal act … (if for example) the defendant was overseas or elsewhere," the documents say.

In addition, it makes unreliable any medical evidence of rape, particularly a medical test by a police doctor taken in June that purports to show two of the boys had "funnel-shaped" anuses and scars, which the doctor said may be a result of the attacks.

Other medical examinations of two of the boys, which has already been presented in a related case against five contract cleaners at the school, appears not to be capable of supporting the rape allegations.

Lawyers for the teachers described the case against the teachers as "uncommon, peculiar, and even absurd," which meant the prosecutor should have examined the truth of the allegations and the "background" of the complainants' "interests or motives".

This includes the "financial motive" relating to the law suit against the school, the documents say.

In his letter to the court, Mr Bantleman defended his reputation, saying it was "one of a caring, funny and enthusiastic educator". 

"All of the things the indictment letter says, I am not. This is why I must write this exception letter to you today, to give you an idea of who I truly am, and [to] humbly request utmost fairness and impartiality in dismissing this indictment."

The prosecution will respond to the application on Thursday.

Disclosure: The author has two children at the Jakarta Intercultural School (formerly Jakarta International School)