Resignation of 13 Mahidol University deputies ‘personal choice’

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Resignation of 13 deputies ‘personal choice’
By THE NATION

 

 

NACC within its rights to request declaration of assets, says university president.

 

BANGKOK: -- THE PRESIDENT of Mahidol University, Udom Kachintorn, yesterday said the resignation of all 13 deputy rectors, following a request by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) for a declaration of their assets, was a personal decision by each individual.

 

The 13 vice presidents, whose resignations were accepted on March 31, had just over a year to serve until their administration terms expired and another committee would be selected to replace them, Udom said. 

 

 They had been asked to serve as acting deputy rectors of Mahidonl initially for six months, to keep the university administration unaffected, he said. 

 

Udom said many viewed the resignations as a protest against the NACC request, but the anti-graft agency was within its rights and if anyone thought it was unfair or felt uncomfortable about the situation, they had the right to resign.

 

He explained that the position of vice president is an academic role, in which a selected staff member serves in the university administration along with his or her normal teaching. When the term is up, the deputy rector would return to normal lecturing duties, he said. 

 

It was unlike the deputy director-general positions at government departments or ministries, which people often misunderstood to be equivalent, he added.

 

The Royal Gazette had earlier published the NACC announcement requiring state officials, including those serving as deputy presidents at public universities or autonomous public universities, to declare their assets from April 3 to May 2.

 

The declaration of assets and debts is part of the three guidelines to tackle corruption in the public sector. The aim is to reduce the monopolisation of power by creating a supervising mechanism (such as a university council) to balance and check the use of power, to reduce the use of discretion by issuing rules and regulations for clear practice on various matters, and to create transparency and develop a mechanism for accountability.

 

Meanwhile, Mongkolkit Suksintharanon, secretary-general of the National Anti-Corruption Network (NACN), said he would today submit a request for the NACC to investigate the 13 Mahidol vice presidents who resigned. 

 

He also said deputy rectors at 200 universities might quit their positions because of the NACC requirement for asset declarations. 

 

Mongkolkit said the NACC was right to ask for public transparency on the assets of university vice presidents, before and after holding the positions. 

 

“Some lecturers had unusual wealth because the Revenue Code allowed the income from education to be tax-exempted. This is a matter that should be proposed for law amendment so tax can be collected from the income earned from tutoring classes,” he said. 

 

“Some university’s deputy rectors earn 20 times more salary than a prime minister. While a PM earns Bt120,000 a month in salary, a deputy rector earns Bt500,000 to Bt1 million, excluding more income from special curriculum courses. So the NACC is doing the right thing.”

 

If all current university executives resigned, the universities could find other qualified persons to replace them or hire professional administrators to do the jobs in exchange for a properly taxed salary, he added.

 

Mongkolkit said the NACC should also require school directors, holding C8 or C9 state official ranks, to disclose their assets.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30311325

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-04-05

[CelticBhoy]

"He also said deputy rectors at 200 universities might quit their positions because of the NACC requirement for asset declarations."

 

That's a lot of academics out of work! But I guess they have enough money "stashed"

away to afford early retirement. Would I be right in guessing that if they retire then they

are no longer under the spotlight?

[saakura]

This makes for some very disturbing reading. Educators are supposed to be pillars of society and role models for students preparing to enter society as adults. Also never knew that teachers are exempted from paying tax!

[worgeordie]

So the 13 deputies,dont want to declare their assets,so just resign, 

makes you wonder what they have to hide,

regards worgeordie

[fruitman]

6 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

So the 13 deputies,dont want to declare their assets,so just resign, 

makes you wonder what they have to hide,

regards worgeordie

 

They also give Thailands most prestigious university a bad reputation this way....this news goes worldwide i bet. They should get investigated double as hard for this.

[Laughing Gravy]

They should be forced by the courts to show their assets. After all what have they to lose! I guess another face saving way of admitting guilt whilst getting away with it.

[bannork]

Just now, saakura said:

This makes for some very disturbing reading. Educators are supposed to be pillars of society and role models for students preparing to enter society as adults. Also never knew that teachers are exempted from paying tax!

Teachers who work in schools are not exempt from paying tax.

[scorecard]

45 minutes ago, saakura said:

This makes for some very disturbing reading. Educators are supposed to be pillars of society and role models for students preparing to enter society as adults. Also never knew that teachers are exempted from paying tax!

"Also never knew that teachers are exempted from paying tax!"

 

Quite confusing, from my understanding (and I checked with some teaching colleagues) it seems some money (not sure which category etc.) from teaching is tax-exempt but not all.

 

Also, typical Thai reporting to not give a clear report. 

[scorecard]

49 minutes ago, saakura said:

This makes for some very disturbing reading. Educators are supposed to be pillars of society and role models for students preparing to enter society as adults. Also never knew that teachers are exempted from paying tax!

 

And what students see, way too many times is lecturers, some self obsessed, with 2 big benz cars, etc. 

 

My guess is that some uni students never join the dots but more and more are nowadays privately talking about thse things.

 

It certainly doesn't help when other lecturers are trying to teach ethics. 

[dcpo]

2 hours ago, CelticBhoy said:

"He also said deputy rectors at 200 universities might quit their positions because of the NACC requirement for asset declarations."

 

That's a lot of academics out of work! But I guess they have enough money "stashed"

away to afford early retirement. Would I be right in guessing that if they retire then they

are no longer under the spotlight?

They just resigned from the deputy dean position. They keep their regular lecturer jobs.

 

Seeing as it's Thailand, they probably do have something to hide. But on the other hand, if we're talking about people with unusually large assets for their salaries...

[NanLaew]

2 hours ago, CelticBhoy said:

"He also said deputy rectors at 200 universities might quit their positions because of the NACC requirement for asset declarations."

 

That's a lot of academics out of work! But I guess they have enough money "stashed"

away to afford early retirement. Would I be right in guessing that if they retire then they

are no longer under the spotlight?

Sort of the equivalent of the 'inactive post' for others discovered with their fingers in the pies.

[NanLaew]

2 hours ago, bannork said:

Teachers who work in schools are not exempt from paying tax.

Indeed. They pay taxes on their relatively paltry salaries but all other income from lecturing, extra tuition and other lucrative revenue streams is probably undeclared and totally banked.

[Stradavarius37]

As a lecturer and faculty-level administrator at MU - I have met most of the VP's several times.  They have always struck me as being very solid, knowledgeable, and sincere.  I agree that the optics of the situation are not good, but to request a complete declaration with little turnaround time and no advance notice isn't good either.  How many of you could present all your assets, including a history with records of where it all came from, in 30 days?  

 

As for taxes, believe me, all Mahidol income be it salary, one off payments for meetings, etc, is subject to tax.  The HR tax system here is extremely rigorous and I pay a LOT of taxes lol.  There is no under the table payments I've ever seen or come across this this strong financial system was introduced in 2011.

 

 

[mikebell]

The only success story about Thailand's education system - how to fiddle money. I agree with Strad's comment above; give them time to hide their assets; book some holiday flights and pack.

[laocowboy2]

1 hour ago, Stradavarius37 said:

As a lecturer and faculty-level administrator at MU - I have met most of the VP's several times.  They have always struck me as being very solid, knowledgeable, and sincere.  I agree that the optics of the situation are not good, but to request a complete declaration with little turnaround time and no advance notice isn't good either.  How many of you could present all your assets, including a history with records of where it all came from, in 30 days?  

 

As for taxes, believe me, all Mahidol income be it salary, one off payments for meetings, etc, is subject to tax.  The HR tax system here is extremely rigorous and I pay a LOT of taxes lol.  There is no under the table payments I've ever seen or come across this this strong financial system was introduced in 2011.

 

 

Nice to hear from someone in a position to actually know rather than just speculate. I surmise that the resignations were more a form of protest about an unjustified invasion of privacy. What chance of the same happening to ALL policemen of the rank of Sgt and above?

[GarryP]

Bloody hell, those deputy rector salaries are high. Who'd have thought?

[hotchilli]

Very few are a "pillar of the community" where good money can be made..
Tax free incentive is the only reason why some wish to become teachers, along with medical benefits!!

[FWIW]

3 hours ago, Stradavarius37 said:

As a lecturer and faculty-level administrator at MU - I have met most of the VP's several times.  They have always struck me as being very solid, knowledgeable, and sincere.  I agree that the optics of the situation are not good, but to request a complete declaration with little turnaround time and no advance notice isn't good either.  How many of you could present all your assets, including a history with records of where it all came from, in 30 days?  

 

As for taxes, believe me, all Mahidol income be it salary, one off payments for meetings, etc, is subject to tax.  The HR tax system here is extremely rigorous and I pay a LOT of taxes lol.  There is no under the table payments I've ever seen or come across this this strong financial system was introduced in 2011.

 

 

And yet the Deputies of Chulalongkorn University have pledged to do the reports within the stipulated time frame.  Indeed, I believe the President has said that he will help them to do it (as the University presidents are already required to declare their assets).

 

However this gets spun, very poor showing by Mahidol and quite disgraceful.   

 

 

[ChidlomDweller]

30 minutes ago, FWIW said:

And yet the Deputies of Chulalongkorn University have pledged to do the reports within the stipulated time frame.  Indeed, I believe the President has said that he will help them to do it (as the University presidents are already required to declare their assets).

 

However this gets spun, very poor showing by Mahidol and quite disgraceful.   

 

 

Indeed, I work there too and I think it's sickening.  

[harada]

They probably figure that the declaration of assets and how unusual wealth was come by should be for ALL and not just the select few. 

[FangFerang]

"many viewed the resignations as a protest against the NACC request"

 

"They doth protest too much, methinks"--William Shakespeare (two words modified)

 

No kidding or exaggeration: THIS could end MOE corruption, hands-down, flat-out, wipe it out.   

Edited April 5, 2017 by FangFerang
Add a line

[mtls2005]

7 hours ago, worgeordie said:

So the 13 deputies,dont want to declare their assets,so just resign, 

makes you wonder what they have to hide,

regards worgeordie

 

Yes, it's always guilty until proven innocent, at least for those on the wrong side.

 

I think there is more to this story than someone wanting to hide their ill-gotten booty? It seems like the "authorities" want to maintain control over all aspects of life, including academia. What better way than to move aside pesky independent thinkers than by accusing them of financial "crimes"?

 

That said, if all members of the junta, NRSA, NLA, their families, the police, army, judiciary, etc. all agree to abide by the same process then I'd gladly re-think my position on this.