From: godfrey@sscvx1.ssc.gov (LAURENCE GODFREY)
Subject: S and T in Thailand
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1  
Organization: Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 23:20:00 GMT

I have dug up some old correspondence which might be of
interest to some readers of this newsgroup, and is relevant
both to the issues of S and T instruction in universities and
to the farang experts issue.

I have withheld the names of the people concerned, and
disguised the name of the facility concerned.



                                               Dr. Laurence Godfrey
                                                         Chiang Mai
                                                      26 March 1990


for the personal attention of:
Dr. K (name deleted)
The President
Chiang Mai University


Dear Dr. K,

		I am a nuclear physicist employed by Chiang Mai
University as a foreign expert working for the Institute of
ST? (name disguised) , and attached to the F? (name
disguised).  I am writing to urgently request an appointment
with you in order to deal with the extraordinary and
preposterous difficulties I am having in connection with my
employment, from which I am due to resign at the end of this
week.

During the past few months I have done my best to avoid
contacting the university administration about my difficulties
with Dr. T (name deleted) and instead to resolve them within
the Institute, but his most recent actions give me no choice. 
I sincerely hope and believe that this matter can be dealt
with by you, as I have no wish to take it any further.  I have
enclosed a copy of my letter to the British Consul in Bangkok,
summarising the whole affair, which, for no reason other than
my request to Dr. T for the payment of a backdated salary
increase, has now culminated in him ordering a 24-hour guard
on the building, consisting of several university police,
technicians and students, to prevent me from entering.  I have
specifically asked the embassy not to take any action, but I
feel obliged to notify them of what has happened for my own
protection.

All the issues I have raised can be supported by documents or
confirmed with the professors, students, technicians and other
people involved.  I have enclosed copies of the correspondence
mentioned in my letter to the Consul and of the rotas for the
student and technician guard duties.  Other documents are
available for your inspection.

I am taking my official leave from my job at the university
this week, but in the light of what is happening I cannot go
away, and I can therefore be contacted within a few hours by
leaving a message at telephone no. (deleted)


*
                             Yours sincerely

                          Dr. Laurence Godfrey




                                           Chiang Mai, 26 March 1990
Mr. F (name deleted)
British Consul
Bangkok

Dear Mr. F,

	Further to my letter of 24th January 1990, in which I advised you
of the difficulties I was experiencing while working as a foreign
expert at Chiang Mai University, as you suggested I am writing again
to update you, particularly in view of the extraordinary events of the
past few days (see paragraph 9).  In order to ensure the accuracy of
my account and to keep the events in chronological order, in the
statement below I have given a summary of the facts from my earlier
letter, followed by the most recent happenings.  I have tried to
confine myself strictly to events without adding interpretations, and
all the facts can be verified with supporting documents and witnesses.

I have sent a copy of this letter to the President of Chiang Mai
University, Dr. K (name deleted), with a covering letter (copy
enclosed) requesting an appointment with him.  I believe that the whole
matter can be resolved locally without the necessity to involve anyone
else.  Therefore, as stated in my letter of 24th January 1990, I do not
wish you to take any action, but I would be grateful if you would
review and record this statement for my protection.

                    Statement of Laurence Godfrey

1.	 I am a British citizen, normally resident in England, and a
physicist with a PhD in nuclear physics.  Following my acceptance of
the position of Foreign Expert with Chiang Mai University last August,
I have become involved in a lengthy and progressively worsening dispute
with my immediate superior, Dr. T (name deleted), the director of the
university institute for which I work.  

2.	 I accepted the position at CMU in preference to continuing as a
lecturer in the UK or accepting a position as Senior Research Scientist
at Texas A&M, because I had developed a great liking for Thailand
during my previous visits here as a tourist.  Although the salary of
10,365 B + 5,000 B housing allowance was very low, and I was expected
to pay my own relocation costs, I was given to understand before coming
that I would receive extra remuneration from other sources (copies of
letters from CMU of 27th April and 18th May enclosed).

3.  Soon after starting work I found that I had to subsidise my living
costs from my personal savings, and although extra money was promised
in the future, none was ever received.  After several months, I
discovered that the published government salary for my position was far
more than I was actually receiving, and mainly for this reason I
submitted a letter of resignation in December, giving three months
notice (letter of 7th December 1989).  As agreed with Dr. T, this
letter stated that if my grievances were remedied before my leaving
date I was prepared to remain in the job.  However, within a few days
Dr. T asked me to either withdraw my resignation altogether on the
basis that he would try to get me the correct salary (by that time the
published expert scales from October 1989 were in the range 18,400B -
 22,000B + housing allowance), or to confirm my resignation
unconditionally.  I chose to confirm it (letter of December 20th,
1989).

4.  My resignation was not processed until after January 20th, when I
wrote a letter to Dr. T after an incident in which a professor at
another university in Thailand, to whom I had applied for a job, told
me that she had been advised by Dr. T, contrary to what I had told her,
I was not going to leave CMU (letter of January 20th, 1990).  Dr. T
denied that he had misinformed the professor in question and returned
the letter to me.  He then stated that if I did anything to "upset him"
he could have me removed from the country in 24 hours, by using
"important friends".

5.  During the third week in February I was informed by Dr. T that an
increase in my salary from 10,365 B to 18,400 B + housing allowance had
been approved and notified, and that this increase was to be backdated
to 1st October 1989.  In fact, all foreign teachers and experts were
to receive an increase backdated to October, but in my case I was told
that it had been agreed to upgrade my salary from the lowest position
on the university teachers' scale to the lowest position on the foreign
experts' scale.  On February 27th, as a result of this promised
increase, I agreed to Dr. T's request that I postpone my leaving date
for a further three months (letter of 27th February 1990).  As far as
payment of the backdated increase was concerned, while I was planning
to leave my job on March 12th I has been told that I would be paid the
money before I left,  but once I had agreed to extend my stay I was
advised that because I was not about to leave, I would have to wait one
or two months to receive it - I did not object to this.

6.  Shortly after I had agreed to stay on, I was offered a position at
the University of California, Davis, to carry out research for them in
Germany and at CERN in Switzerland.  The offer required me to begin
work in mid-March, immediately after my original leaving date of March
12th 1990.  I informed Dr. T of this offer and then negotiated the
latest possible starting date with the University of California - April
16th 1990.  On 19th March I spoke to Dr. T again and I requested that
he release me from my agreement to stay for a further three months in
view of this job offer.  He stated that he did not wish to prevent me
from leaving if I wanted to go.  I then accepted the California job
offer and wrote to Dr. T confirming my leaving date (copy enclosed,
first letter of 20th March 1990).  He returned this letter saying that
it was not formal enough and that it dealt with irrelevant issues (my
holiday, my tax clearance and my backdated pay).  I therefore submitted
a shortened letter, as required (copy enclosed, second letter of 20th
March). 

7.  As a result of problems concerning my tax clearance in the past
(see below), on 20th - 23rd March I tried several times to ensure that
the Institute would have the necessary documents ready for me to obtain
my tax clearance on April 2nd, and began to encounter some resistance
from Dr. T.  A statement of income from the university was required,
and this had to be stamped by the university, and by another tax
office, before tax clearance could be obtained, but I was told that
the Institute could not have it ready in time.

Matters came to a head when, on Friday 23rd March, I asked Dr. T if I
could get my backdated pay increase before leaving the country (which
I intend to do on or around April 12th), because once I have left it
will be difficult to get this sum of money out of Thailand (I am
presently owed 48,210 B in backpay and 15,365 B salary and housing
allowance for March).  He told me I would not get the backpay but that
he would instead pay it to me later, by an unspecified date and by an
unspecified means.

After taking advice from my bank in T, I asked instead for a document
confirming the amount to be paid.  Dr. T said he could not provide such
a document and he also stated that the backdated pay could not be
included on the statement of my income.  I pointed out that I would
therefore have nothing in writing concerning the promised increase and
said that I felt it was unreasonable for me to leave the country
without some evidence that the money would be paid.  I suggested
several documents that I thought already existed and copies of which
might be given to me: the authorisation to increase my salary, which
I was told had arrived about 5 weeks earlier; the request from the
Institute to the university to pay the increase; the request from the
Institute to the university that I be paid the backdated increase by
my original leaving date of March 12th; the confirmation of this
request etc., but he refused copies of all of these, giving as his
reasons the fact that they were "official".  When I enquired why the
money could not be paid to me before I left the country, as was going
to happen formerly when I was due to leave on March 12th, I was told
that the circumstances were now different.

8.  On March 23rd, I had three conversations with Dr. T over the money
owed, and during the last, which he initiated, he ordered me to vacate
my office in the N? (name disguised) building within 45 minutes (at
4.30 pm), and move into an office in the Institute.  At first I could
not take this seriously since the N? (name disguised) building and the
Institute are physically connected in several places, and the distance
between the two offices concerned is no more than 10 metres, and in any
case I was due to take the holiday owed to me from that evening until
my leaving day.  However, rather than argue with him I acquiesced, and
I later agreed with him that I would move out the next day and return
the key to my former office.

At about 5.30 pm on 23rd March, a secretary told me that she had been
ordered by Dr. T to immediately collect not just my office key but all
my keys to the N? (name disguised) building, but I explained that I was
moving out the next day and would give them to her then.

9.  When I came to collect my belongings from my office on Saturday
24th March I was told that on the evening of 23rd March Dr. T had
arranged for 5 university guards to be continuously stationed at the
front of the N? (name disguised) building, with specific instructions
to prevent me from entering both that building and the Institute
building (to which I had in fact been told by Dr. T to move).  I often
go in to work in the evenings and at weekends and there is never a
guard stationed outside either of these buildings, although there is
usually one guard on patrol in the vicinity.  I was only able to gain
admission to recover my belongings on Saturday because a Thai
professor, who knows me very well, was present.

The guard continued outside the N? (name disguised) and Institute
buildings around the clock on Saturday and Sunday 25th March, with one
guard on duty in the daytime, three in the late afternoon and evening
and several overnight.  I am told that Dr. T checked the guard himself
on several occasions on Friday night and in the early hours of Saturday
morning.

I now know that immediately after seeing me on Friday, Dr. T called a
meeting of the N? (name disguised) Facility technicians, and also all
the students, and ordered them to operate a round-the-clock guard of
their own outside and inside the buildings in order to watch me and
prevent me from entering, in addition to the university guard.  24-
hour guard rotas for the students and technicians, covering the period
23rd March to 31st March were drawn up and later posted on the notice
board (I have copies).  I understand that Dr. T kept in touch with the
student/technician guard by telephone on Friday and Saturday.  
10.  There was absolutely no justification for this guard against me,
for needless to say I have never threatened to take or to damage
anything, indeed my work while employed at the university has been very
beneficial to them.

                           Statement ends


As far as the almost unbelievable events described in the last
paragraph are concerned, I am in no doubt that this kind of treatment
of an employee of the university, particularly a foreign expert, with
absolutely no justification, is outrageous, preposterous, shocking and
in this case deeply humiliating for me (several of the names on the
guard rota are students I have taught).  While it was undoubtedly my
request that I receive the backpay owed to me which caused Dr. T to
order the absurd guard, I can think of no justification whatever for
stopping me entering the buildings.

Furthermore, Dr. T's extraordinary conduct is particularly hurtful to
me because, while at the university, I have contributed a great deal
to his research effort.  In particular I designed and successfully put
to use a number of beam monitors, wrote useful software, obtained,
donated and implemented a large quantity of other software, contributed
ideas and suggestions which have very significantly improved the ion
beam transport, investigated the ion beam contamination and pointed out
a hitherto unsuspected source of contamination which was previously
wrongly identified, did some undergraduate teaching and supervised
students in their projects.  Finally, I wrote a paper on the beam
monitors which stands a reasonably good chance of publication.  Despite
the facts that just one other person helped me with the design of these
monitors and that I built, tested and calibrated them alone and then
wrote the paper myself, I put the names of two Thai professors on the
author list, one of which was Dr. T's, so as to improve the reputation
of the N? (name disguised) facility by getting them a much-needed
international publication.


I have sacrificed a very substantial income in order to come here and
help Thailand with its research and to improve its reputation in the
international scientific community, and I am not willing to suffer this
kind of treatment without protest.  The financial cost of my working
here has been about #4,000 of my own savings, but the real cost is the
humiliation I have endured and a progressive but rather radical
alteration of my feelings about Thailand.  While I still mostly like
the Thai people, after what has happened I would never again consider
working for a Thai university.  I now want to ensure that others who
may follow me as experts are not treated in the same way, that my tax
clearance is completed by April 2nd, that I can leave the country for
my job in California in time, and that I receive the money that Dr. T
told me is owed by the university and, in any case, simply represents
the lowest approved salary for my job.

On the separate matter of my tax clearance, I am exempted from paying
tax on my income from teaching and doing research in Thailand, under
Article 21 of the tax treaty between Thailand and the UK.  Although
this was confirmed in writing by the Director of the Fiscal and Tax
Policy Division in Bangkok, Dr. Somchai Richupan, before I left the UK,
and again confirmed by telephone to the same department in February,
the lady responsible for tax clearances in Chiang Mai refused on two
occasions to allow this exemption and unfortunately the whole affair
was confused by a letter written by the university in support of the
exemption, but giving the wrong reasons for it.  As far as I know, the
exemption was finally reluctantly conceded, but I did not get the
clearance because I agreed to extend my stay at the university.  If I
encounter any more difficulty with implementing the treaty when I go
to get my clearance next week, I will contact the Embassy separately
over this matter.

                           Yours sincerely

                        Dr. Laurence Godfrey





                                                    Dr. Laurence Godfrey
                                                              Chiang Mai
                                                            2 April 1990
Dr. K (name withheld)
The President
Chiang Mai University

Dear Dr. K,

	Further to my letter of 26th March and our telephone conversation
today, I am writing to thank you for referring the matter of my backdated
salary to Mr. N (name withheld), who was very helpful and has advised me
that he believes it can be resolved within two days.  As stated in
paragraph 5 of my letter to the British Consul of 26th March, 1990, I was
told in February by Dr. T that an increase, backdated to last October 1st,
from 10,365 B to 18,400 B has been approved and notified by Bangkok and
this was the reason why I agreed to extend my leaving date beyond March
12th 1990.  As we now know, the increase was not confirmed in February and
indeed is still unconfirmed now, but a backdated raise to August 15th 1989
was in fact applied for in February.  Had I known the truth at the time,
I would have left CMU on March 12th as originally planned, and could have
started my job in the USA by March 19th.

	As for the guard against me on the N? (name disguised) building and
the Institute, I note that it is continuing despite our discussion last
week.  In this connection, when I went there this afternoon to help a
graduate student, at his request, with some data he needed for his MSc
thesis, although I was careful to confine myself to the outer lobbies of
the two buildings, I was constantly followed around by two guards and
eventually had to talk to him outside the buildings.  I wonder if you
appreciate just how humiliating this kind of treatment is for me, or how
utterly scandalous I think it is that Dr. T should be allowed to continue
with this folly?

	Finally it has come to my attention that Dr. T has been suggesting to
others that I may have had something to do with a breakdown of the N? (name
disguised) computer which occurred during my last two weeks at work,
presumably in order to justify the guard.  Firstly it can easily be
established with the DEC engineer, who came from Bangkok to repair the
computer, that the hardware faults which caused the breakdown could not
have been deliberately created, secondly it was I who spent a considerable
time consulting with the engineer by telephone in order to try to rectify
the breakdown, and lastly this is a gross slur on my professional
reputation and in the West would certainly amount to prima facie grounds
for a libel action.

	Since 1975 I have worked as a physicist in the UK, USA, Canada,
Switzerland and France and for shorter periods in Belgium, Italy and
Holland and I have also worked in collaboration with other physicists from
all the European countries, Japan and South America.  I have never before
encountered, nor heard of, anything which compares with what has happened
to me in Thailand.

	I hope to have the opportunity to talk to you again before I leave
Thailand.  I regret to say that after my experiences here I do not intend
to come back.  (note: but I did anyway)

                             Yours sincerely


                            Laurence Godfrey