Thai-born Harvard dentist accused of welching on multi-million baht scholarship debt to Mahidol



Dr Padej Poonwithayakij (right) at his interview with Jor Kao Den TV show, hosted by by famous anchor Sorayuth Suthassanachinda (left). Photo: Padej Poonwithayakij

BANGKOK: Netizens have slammed a Thai-born instructor at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine after she was accused of skipping out on debts in Thailand totalling over THB30 million.

In a scandal that has attracted huge attention on social media this week, Dr Dolrudee Jumlongras allegedly received a scholarship in 1993 from her alma mater, Mahidol University, to study at the prestigious US university.

Four Thais guaranteed her THB8 million scholarship, according to one of the guarantors, Dr Padej Poonwithayakij, a dentist who knew Dolrudee through a lecturer at Mahidol University when he was studying for a diploma there back in 1993.

Full story: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2016/01/30/thai-born-harvard-dentist-accused-welching-multi-million-baht-scholarship-debt-mahidol

-- Coconuts Bangkok 2016-01-30

Thai rak Thai

She must be earning enough to pay it off now surely.

Pay your debts lady, you wouldn't be where you are today without that scholarship.

'Coconuts has requested comment from Dolrudee, Padej and Harvard University. We will update the story if we receive a response."

I can just see that conversation right now

"Honey, someone from coconuts wants to talk to you about an 8 million baht debt (which somehow has become 30 million)"

"Who?"

"Coconuts"

"Seriously! Coconuts?"

"Yep"

"Tell them to go #%* themselves"

Edited January 30, 201610 yr by Bluespunk

what can they expect, we see this sort of thing a lot here, debts mean nothing if you dont want to pay them out, means you keep more in your own bank account. Unfortunately doing the right thing and honour mean absolutely nothing to some people, pity that the ones that have to pay for her corrupt way of thinking are refusing to take any legal action against her, hopefully enough people will cause the university to take action against her themselves.

A brain without a heart nor guilt...

what can they expect, we see this sort of thing a lot here, debts mean nothing if you dont want to pay them out, means you keep more in your own bank account. Unfortunately doing the right thing and honour mean absolutely nothing to some people, pity that the ones that have to pay for her corrupt way of thinking are refusing to take any legal action against her, hopefully enough people will cause the university to take action against her themselves.

Im not sure where you are from but I can tell you in the Netherlands its not much different. I run a business and the effort it takes to collect some debts is amazing. Its not a Thai thing its a world wide thing.

Most decent people who don't run a business have no idea how hard it can be.

loan = gift, in Thailand.

From what is being posted on Thai forums, it would appear the lady has no intentions of paying back any monies owed.

She is putting up 2 fingers to the generous Thais who supported her.

I am in USA now bye bye THAI.

This could get interesting. While the four guarantors negotiated with Mahidol University to accept payment of the original debt, ~8 million baht the University may have a case for the unpaid balance against Dolrudee 'Porsche'. She could find herself with a civil action suit should she return to Thailand and be prevented from leaving until the matter is settled (Andy Hall?). If the law finds a criminal action is warranted (statute of limitations?) she might find that an arrest warrant awaits her at Immigration. The University will have powerful friends in the Government.

It could get really nasty for her if she is convicted in absentia and her Passport is consequently cancelled. Maybe she has thought of this and by way of marriage has gained dual citizenship; this is lengthy and complicated although she has had since 1993 to get her act together.

​Harvard may decide that they don't need the adverse publicity and dispense with her services.

There is really not much to say about an a_hole welching on a debt...

Edited January 30, 201610 yr by Artisi

Slowly I start believing all honest Thais would fit in one bus. (10 seater that is)

A friend once told me the definition of a co-signer (guarantor) is "an A_hole with a pen".

in a way i am not surprised although i wish i were surprised. a dentist from the top university sent to harvard no less by gracious sponsors, then reneging on her promise. interesting how harvard sees it as a private matter rather than a significant ethics issue related to one of its professors.

Removed a nonsensical post.

...sue.....???

Just like the USA , students don't want to pay back student loans and cry about them .

cant say im surprised Thais never pay back money they borrow all they do is leave town.

Since when have scholarship's been repaid? I thought the whole point was to allow someone to study who couldn't pay for it.

It was not a student loan.

If anyone read the article it also states the reason for it being 30m rather than the original was because they wanted 3 times the original amount of 8 million....So one of the top universities in Thailand wanted 3 x 8 million, they then asked for 30m.....One of the top universities in Thailand.

As I understand it ... loans vs. scholarships ...

student loans are contracts to borrow money to study and are paid back either by cash or by working for the company / govt etc. etc.

scholarships are monies given to study and sometimes include a requirement to work for the institution in some fashion, often as an academic

what is the case here?

unclear to me.

I also have never heard of a scholarship being "guaranteed" with cash by third parties, particularly individuals. This is quite strange

As I understand it ... loans vs. scholarships ...

student loans are contracts to borrow money to study and are paid back either by cash or by working for the company / govt etc. etc.

scholarships are monies given to study and sometimes include a requirement to work for the institution in some fashion, often as an academic

what is the case here?

unclear to me.

I also have never heard of a scholarship being "guaranteed" with cash by third parties, particularly individuals. This is quite strange

The article reads "scholarship"................not assistance, donation etc.....

what can they expect, we see this sort of thing a lot here, debts mean nothing if you dont want to pay them out, means you keep more in your own bank account. Unfortunately doing the right thing and honour mean absolutely nothing to some people, pity that the ones that have to pay for her corrupt way of thinking are refusing to take any legal action against her, hopefully enough people will cause the university to take action against her themselves.

Im not sure where you are from but I can tell you in the Netherlands its not much different. I run a business and the effort it takes to collect some debts is amazing. Its not a Thai thing its a world wide thing.

Most decent people who don't run a business have no idea how hard it can be.

If you want to be sure of payment,,,COD Only,,, If not ,you are open to be ripped off,,,Being That Business or Drugs,,,

Looks like a lesson in choosing your scholars carefully and anticipating the things which might go wrong. I doubt very much care was taken in interviewing and character assessing the scholar. And we can see very little attention was given to tying down the legal and financial aspects of the loan/scholarship. Lazy work by the guarantors.

cant say im surprised Thais never pay back money they borrow all they do is leave town.

Happened in my mate's village.

mom n pop shop burnt down.

There was a charity concert and show and donations and loans made to get them back on their feet and built it again.

600k or there abouts.

They were gone before the sun rose the next morning, never to be seen again.

According to a number of references, this particular one from Wikipedia:

"A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further their education. Scholarships are awarded based upon various criteria, which usually reflect the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award. Scholarship money is not required to be repaid.^[1]"

^{This has always been my understanding of the term.}

what can they expect, we see this sort of thing a lot here, debts mean nothing if you dont want to pay them out, means you keep more in your own bank account. Unfortunately doing the right thing and honour mean absolutely nothing to some people, pity that the ones that have to pay for her corrupt way of thinking are refusing to take any legal action against her, hopefully enough people will cause the university to take action against her themselves.

Im not sure where you are from but I can tell you in the Netherlands its not much different. I run a business and the effort it takes to collect some debts is amazing. Its not a Thai thing its a world wide thing.

Most decent people who don't run a business have no idea how hard it can be.

If you want to be sure of payment,,,COD Only,,, If not ,you are open to be ripped off,,,Being That Business or Drugs,,,

That only works for products.. not for services. Believe me i see the same problem with many of my clients struggling to get their money. This is not a Thai thing this is something that happens all over the world.

And yes clients that use COD for products don't have this problem.

This sort of thing is not at all exclusive to Thais/Thailand. In the USA tens-of-thousands of people have beat the US Government out of the money they owe for student loans.

She must be earning enough to pay it off now surely.

Pay your debts lady, you wouldn't be where you are today without that scholarship.

There is a serious problem in the above and the serious problem is language.

Obviously this affair was compiled using the Thai language.

In my working life in many foreign countries in the world my contracts always were compiled in the international business language English with a side Note: that in case of legal involvement with local court(s) the local language (its name) would prevail.

In this case the English word “Scholarship” is freely used.

Based on my studies (decades ago) J.D. International Law there is a fast difference ... scholarships vs. Loans...

Scholarships are monies given to study and at times include a requirement to work for the institution as an academic.

Student loans are contracts to borrow money to study and are paid back either by cash or by working for the company / govt etc.

In the above what is the case here?

Never came across in my studies of a scholarship being "guaranteed" with cash by third parties, particularly individuals. This is quite strange.

Padej said Dolrudee has only sent back USD-50,000 (THB-1.78 million) for the four guarantors to split between them.

Supposedly the scholarship in question had been granted on condition that the Harvard instructor would return to work at the Mahidol University for a period that was three times the length of her studies at the US University. A normal procedure.

As she did not return, she owed the Thai university triple the amount of her tuition with a fine, which totaled over THB-30 million. The representative said.

Looks like a lesson for Prince Mahidol University in choosing scholars carefully and anticipating the things which might go wrong. Doubt very much care was taken in interviewing and character assessing the scholar. And we can see very little attention was given to tying down the legal and financial aspects of the loan/scholarship. Lazy work by the guarantors who are now holding the bag for not doing their job as guarantors.

Also a good lesson for monetary donors to institutes of Higher Learning (Universities) not to just drop the loot on the desk of the Rector of the Higher Learning Institute and leave it up to her/him to write the donor’s wishes how to use the donation.

Edited January 30, 201610 yr by Maestro
Removed off-topic part of the post

loan = gift, in Thailand.

i take it if you loan relative, gf, etc money it may well become a gift. a mahidol dental student agreeing to a scholarship with a written contract is in a completely different league from lending the brother in law motobike taxi driver 10k baht.

i sude being on thai tv is a great shame for her family. csi la even put it on their facebook.

20 years is a long time to wait to bring it up and/or take action.

i paid off my student loans 100% and am very grateful for being able to borrow to study.

shame on her a dentist no less.

Very interesting google reviews regarding this dentist

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=Dolrudee+Jumlongras&oq=Dolrudee+Jumlongras&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60l2&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8#es_sm=122&lrd=0x89e3798be6e6a78f:0xcca1923c188c3ea1,1,

Edited January 30, 201610 yr by atyclb