A Cautionary Tale About Working In or Visiting Taiwan

"Same as it ever was...
Same as it ever was"

The games, carelessness, disrespect and bizareness go on!

As if this saga didn't have enough drama already, even as it winds down to some kind of conclusion the twists and turns and nonsense keep coming.

Here's the short of the latest fiasco and I'll fill in some more details in my blog later:

On Friday afternoon I received another notice from the Taipei District Court.

I suspected what it was about and took it to the court building to ask the staff what it was.

It was a change in the court hearing date from March 30 to April 21 requested by...my most recent lawyer who quit a month ago!

The court staff did not know the attorney had quit and were just as confused as I was about what was going on after I reminded them I told them a few weeks ago I had no lawyer because he had quit.

Apparently, I was the ONLY ONE who didn't know the attorney and the Legal Aid Foundation had decided he should stay on until the next hearing and while they waited for my appeal of their decision to not find me a new lawyer.

The court staff said the new judge said the next hearing would be the last.
I was all set for the original hearing date on March 31 and I can not attend a hearing on April 21.

As you can see, NOBODY advised me of or consulted me about changing the court date!

I am OUTTA THERE!

Safely out of the gnarly reach of the Devil's Clique and the courts of injustice and on better turf where I can proceed with this matter MY WAY since the way of Taiwan's courts and administrative procedures has proven fraught with all manner of prejudice, indifference and worse after more than 3 years of doing it THEIR WAY.

Now I'm enjoying some much-needed break time on a stopover to my next work destination far from Taiwan. I've already been gearing up for what will amount to a "telling of the tale" like you haven't seen yet...and you will see more clearly how some school administrations and Taiwan's judiciary really operate, especially when matters involve foreigners.

As for the April 7 court hearing, as expected, it was another fiasco designed to look like the judge was giving me a fair chance to present my side, but in reality there was no chance since the judge didn't inform me what to prepare for this session. And, when I did ask both the court clerk and my former attorney (many days ahead) what should I prepare for the hearing, they just said "this will be the final hearing and the judge will close the case."

I'll recall in more detail what happened at the hearing in my blog later.

When I returned to Taiwan from Thailand in March 2010, I said it would be for just one year to try and wrap everything up - win. lose or draw. Time is up and I have stuck to my timetable and objectives. I came and left as I chose, not by any pressure or other undue influence.

Defeating the nursing university's attempts to intimidate and bully me with their defamation complaint against me - dismissed by the Shihlin Prosecutor's office in May 2010 - took a lot of wind of their sails and I proved to them and their prosecutor pals that I was a force to be reckoned with.

After the April 7 final court hearing, the next step is the judge will announce her decision on April 21. I'm not expecting any miracle of justice and by the time decision is announced, I will be sharing in more clarity the facts of this case and the travesty of Taiwan's judiciary.

Meanwhile, I've updated my blog today: Of Lawyers, Legal Aid Farce...

Home at last! No, not that home in Texas, but my new "home away from home" far from the 4-year nightmare of the nursing university and travesty of injustice of Taiwan's judiciary.

After battling it out with the with Forces of Evil, the very problematic judiciary, and even my so-called "lawyers", in Taiwan for it seems a lifetime, I've got a bit of recovery to undergo before I can return home on proper footing. I'm in a much happier and healing place finally - still in Asia. If you didn't notice my change in address yet, just take a look at my location.

As we all await what will probably be an anti-climactic and foregone decision from the court, tonight I resumed blogging with an installment about the April 7 court hearing. Check out Injustice From Beginning to End: April 7 Final Court Hearing (Part I)

I haven't yet gotten the Taipei District Court's decision, but apparently the plaintiffs have already taken it upon themselves to distribute their own "press releases" to Taiwan media with select and incorrect information skewed to suit their publicity objectives.

The China Post, in possibly another sorry example of how certain of Taiwan's media are for sale to anyone willing to pay for media coverage, on April 29 carried a poorly-written story (with some glaring inaccuracies) about the court's decision in my civil lawsuit . I wrote a comment about the story on early Friday morning, including recommending to the paper that they contact me to get their facts straight, but until now the comment has not appeared on their website.

The most glaring error in their story is the part about "several witnesses...". In fact, 5 witnesses saw nothing happen during any of the ever-changing times the accuser claims she was "touched on the waist". Only one classmate of the accuser claims she saw something happen - also changing the time, place and circumstances multiple times. However, the nursing university-controlled gender equity committee excluded the testimony of all 5 witnesses that was favorable to me in their investigation and report! The Taipei district court also ignored this significant fact explained in the legal briefs of my former attorneys.

Here's the link to the China Post story: Court rejects teacher's claim of lost reputation

There are also 2 stories I found so far in the Chinese-language press:

China Times
BCC News Taiwan

Added some more about the early info on the court decision here: News Flash! Court Decision Leaked to Taiwan's Press

Hello Pow3hatan,

I guess you are "advertising" all your posts of your blogs here Is this auto promotion????

Hi Yud,

  Thanks for your feedback. Well, there's nothing in this for me to promote...I'm just trying to reach a wider audience through these posts and links to my blog on this valuable website for expats. If it makes you feel more comfortable that I'm not promoting my blog, I'd be happy to replicate my blog posts here instead of providing the link. I'm not earning anything on my blog...I'm not sharing this invaluable nightmare experience on my blogs for profit. I hope others can learn from my experience and save them all the hours, days, weeks, months, years, and money I've lost on this mission impossible.

What Goes Around Comes Around...Starting...Now!

It's time to put the show with the tell.

The essence of this long-running saga is that the accuser and the nursing university's false allegation of sexual harassment has always been predicated on concealment, deception, unsubstantiated hearsay and outright lies. What they have done to me is far more heinous and dangerous than anything I've been accused of by them. Many others, Taiwanese included, have been similarly victimized by the same clique of administrators.

The accuser, the nursing university, and the Gender Equity committee that handled the sham investigation have NEVER produced any photos, video, or other tangible evidence that supports the accuser's story or the witnesses hearsay testimony.

That the court would accept the accuser, the witness', and the nursing university's unsubstantiated lies over factual, tangible, and reasonable physical evidence shows the magnitude of prejudice, inability to judge facts from fiction, and even corruption widely known and prevalent in Taiwan's judiciary.

For those of you who did not pick up on the clue in my previous post (What Goes Around Comes Around...Starting...Now!), I've already started laying out the hard facts of this case. The latest is Of Concealment, Deception and Ignoring the Evidence

Hello Pow3hatan,

First of all I admire some of your reflections, however, we cannot accept on the platform a high volume of copy-paste article from an other website, though it you who is the author.

May be you can paraphrase your wording instead of sharing all your blog posts on the forum. May be you can also participate and contribute in other members post who want to be in Taiwan. Or even help us to animate the Taiwan forum. What do you think? May be you can also launch discussion that will be in the interest of other expats.

Regards

Thanks again Yud for clarifying what is acceptable and not regarding my posts. I understand and can follow your guidance. I will adjust my postings and make a more clear invitation to others to contribute to this topic.

I had hoped this topic would encourage others to share their experiences, insights and questions. It did in the beginning, but it appears most prefer to be spectators. I'd like to see it animate the Taiwan forum too!

I finally got a copy of the court decision from my Taiwanese friend after some more drama courtesy of the Taipei District Court and the Beitou Police. It's 18 pages long and I've already posted the first two pages on my blog and will continue over the next several days.

In order to have a better (and quicker) translation of the decision to share with all, I would very much appreciate if any of you could help (perhaps you have a Taiwanese friend, girlfriend or wife who would be willing) each translate one page and I'll post the translations along with the corresponding pages as I get them. See my blog for my email address where you can send the translations.

One note about the court decision: NOWHERE does it say that "several witnesses saw me touch the accuser" as was reported in Taiwan's notorious media. It's either a fabrication of those who spread the decision to the media or just plain bad, inaccurate, sensationalized reporting.

A couple days ago I finally got the original court decision documents from my Taiwanese friend and now just waiting for my belongings from Taiwan to arrive at my place so I can break out my scanner and after scanning the decision pages I will re-post better images. I also got a copy of the April 7 court hearing transcript re-typed in Word that I'll share later.

Meanwhile, I've already posted the scanned fax images of the court decision (all 18 pages) on my blog. My friend is helping to type up the decision and some other relevant docs into Word files so I can get rough online translations. Hopefully I'll find some human help to get clearer, more accurate English translations of all or most docs so everyone can better understand what's happened.

Last week my Taiwanese friend filed an appeal she wrote to the Taipei District Court...so, let's see what happens next. Actually, I had advised her not to waste her time appealing as I have no lawyer and the consensus of other Taiwanese I talked to was that it would be a wasted effort after the three-ring circus I've already been subjected to by the court & lawyers, the government, and the nursing university.

My friend also got a letter from the Control Yuan regarding my complaints filed against the nursing university and I'll post it and comment on it after I receive it from her. Basically, she told me, the MOE and the nursing university are persisting in their stonewalling tactics, and the Control Yuan continues to show itself to be no more than a paper tiger and possibly worse.

In addition, they have been telling me for months now that they couldn't do anything regarding my complaint against the Taipei District Court and judges until the decision. Now, after the decision, they have been telling my friend I really must appeal the decision...meaning a further delay in any movement from the Control Yuan on my complaint. What a bunch of juvenile, muddleheaded nonsense!

Recently the conversation on another website has touched on the prevalence of Taiwanese teachers teaching English in Chinese while giving "student-friendly" exams that allow practically all to pass no matter how little English ability they have. Typically, Taiwan colleges & universities rely almost solely on student evaluations of teachers in evaluating them.

It's a popularity contest that rewards those who make it easiest on students to pass with minimal effort and too often causes headaches and worse problems for teachers who aren't on board this program. It's a situation that played a significant part in the motives for what the nursing university did to oust me from my teaching position. I was not on board this program, although I did make many concessions for students who wouldn't ordinarily have passed in an effort to satisfy some of the expectations of the administration and student "packs."

Apparently, I didn't do enough. Once the revolt caught momentum, a sinister plot was set into motion that culminated in being sucker-punched by the student and some of the very same administrators who were singing their praises in front of me while manipulating a false sex harassment accusation against me.

They not only wanted the last native-speaker teacher out of their school (after getting rid of the other 2 during the previous year), but they also wanted to add humiliation and "pay back" to their scheme for all the precious little babies (students) who couldn't pass basic English 101 - endangering the school's efforts to win promotion from college to university because of a low English proficiency rating on the evaluation.

I've started sharing another aspect of this saga, focusing on some of the other players in this long-running drama and how they both helped and hindered my efforts while pursuing their own agendas through me. You know where to find it.

For those of you new to this topic, I stated in a much-earlier post here that one of the main reasons for going public with this sordid tale is to reveal one of the lesser-known truths of work, life, human and legal rights in Taiwan, especially for us "foreigners."

I hope that something of my experience will help others who have been, are, or will be in some similar situation - whether in Taiwan or anywhere else in the world. When I decided to start revealing the names of the central players involved in this drama recently, it was also time to reveal my own name as the aggrieved and innocent party.

Sharing another aspect of this long-running saga through emails from Dr. Peng (she) and others, I am not compromising anybody. The very few nursing university personnel who claimed to be helping me at the outset of this nightmare long ago disappeared from my side once they had achieved their ulterior purpose for offering help...or after being threatened with dismissal by one of the administrators behind this character assault.

I waited patiently for almost 4 years for the correct result and just resolution of this fraud through all "proper" channels, keeping the confidentiality of those who helped me (no matter they had already abandoned me) - to absolutely no avail. Now is my time to share more of the truth and perhaps still gain some justice a different way.

Since last week I've added several more posts of emails from the beginning of this ordeal in the summer of 2007.

It was my misfortune to cross paths with not just one but a pack of sociopathic individuals with total lack of morality or concern for their self-serving pursuit of gratification and/or revenge. The accuser's collaboration with the nursing university administrators made for the "perfect crime" against me...but the perpetrators never anticipated my resolve nor the resolve of my close friends to expose their ruse.

With no evidence to support her allegation, the accuser and the nursing university started very quickly to use the "emotional" and "sympathy" cards to try and bolster the false accusation. Starting with the first meeting with the so-called investigation committee, the participants in this fraud played it up by claiming that the accuser immediately began suffering "depression, social withdrawal and weeping" after the alleged "touch on her waist."
Lots of new blog posts today for you to learn more about this.

One of the most outstanding examples of the nursing university's manipulation of their sexual harassment ruse was the misnamed Gender Equity in Education Committee.

The committee, handpicked by the nursing university president, reeked of cronyism, bias and undue influence throughout the entire investigation and subsequent decision. All aspects of the investigation, gender equity meetings, decision and appeal were under either the direct or covert control of the administrators colluding with the accuser on her false allegation.

Search "A Very Close Look at The Nursing University's Involvement in Undue Process" where you'll find transcripts of the 6/28/07 meeting with the GE in Education interrogators and their coercive tactics.

For those of you seeking any kind of medical treatment in Taiwan, this is what can happen on the island (as anywhere else) when workers in a critical profession are set loose in the real world with insufficient English skills:

Taiwan: Hospital transplants 5 HIV-infected organs

The story reminds me of a conversation I had in 2008 with the mother of a private student who was a nurse in one of the more well-known hospitals in Taipei. When I told her I was teaching at the nursing university and shared some of my views of the students' English ability, she confided in me that her department didn't like using the school's students as interns or employing them.

She explained that they tended to be lazy and indifferent to their work AND...their English skills were generally poor. She added that even one or more of the nurses from the nursing university had made mistakes in treating patients or administering dosages of medicine because they misunderstood instructions in English.

In some recent blog posts I touch on this topic of the school's lack of adequate schooling in English and nursing students' lack of interest in, even dislike for, learning English. I would guess this situation exists to some degree in other nursing and medical schools in Taiwan as well.

I should add that I am not saying or implying that the recent organ transplant incident has anything to do with any graduate of the nursing university. I am merely highlighting this story as an example of what can happen when students are not properly prepared in English for work that requires them to perform critical tasks using English.

There is very good and quality health care available in Taiwan...just remember: Patient beware!

In the past few months there have been some revealing stories and editorials about the real state of justice in Taiwan. Whether you're a native Taiwanese or a foreign English teacher, actual due process and protection under the laws in Taiwan are very elusive for the common person. My long-running nursing university case is a real-life example of what almost anyone in Taiwan faces when entering the realm of Taiwan's judiciary and bureaucracy.

I've written more about this and included an editorial on What's Wrong With Justice in Taiwan? at What's Wrong With Justice in Taiwan

You can also read about another aspect of life in Taiwan every expat should be aware of in the post "A Follow-Up to 'Does Taiwan genuinely respect plurality?'"

At the beginning of a month-long hiatus from blogging I got some not-so-surprising news from the Taiwan High Court about the appeal filed by my friend. As I had expected, the High Court spun some flimsy reasons for rejecting the appeal - the latest effort by Taiwan's judiciary to thwart a foreigner's lawful due process. You can read more about this on my blog post "Time For Other Things in Life + Taiwan's High Court"

What has happened in my 4-year legal and human rights nightmare is symptomatic of a much wider and pervasive problem with the treatment of all levels of foreigners who toil in the island's schools as teachers, in various business, academic and social welfare entities, and in the homes and factories throughout Taiwan. Read more about this in "Foreigners in Taiwan: Beneath the Law and Human Rights".

Well...not only do they violate the human rights of those under their employ in Taiwan, but as the recent case of the Taiwanese diplomat arrested in the U.S. so vividly shows, apparently some can't resist the temptation to do it in other countries either.

Even more glaringly, the government's hypocrisy and double standards concerning matters of the law, due process and human rights were on full display throughout this case. Taiwanese officials disregarded the very serious charges against the diplomat of abusing her domestic worker and violating human trafficking laws as deftly as they ignored violations of my legal and human rights throughout my 4-year ordeal in Taiwan.

More about this at "The Hypocrisy And The Audacity (Of Taiwan's Government)"

Pow3,

After reading all of your exhaustive posts...the thing that I keep coming back to is that perhaps you are getting exactly what you deserve. If you go around putting your hands on female students, then perhaps you should be removed from your position.

You claim that it is some student/administrative conspiracy against you, the ignorant foreigner. But, what I as well as others probably ponder is we are only getting one side of this story. What about the student's side of this? It seems highly unlikely to me as an outside observer why this poor student would subject herself to three years of this unless there were some truth to the allegations. If she is steadfast in her mission, it could also be due to her being romanced and then dumped...I dont know, and trust me, I dont want to know, but it does make me wonder why you are so important to get such a visceral attack proclaimed upon your person.

From reading your posts I also get a sense of grandiosity on your part, and half/partial truths which leads me to believe that we are not getting the full truth here. A quick example of this is when you said you were in Taiwan for 18 years, then later recanted and knocked down the "in country" time to 12...Does anyone else smell something fishy here?

Also, when you tried to plea down to a "cultural misunderstanding" was also a HUGE red flag....Even a newbie would know to keep your hands to yourself. Hopefully a teacher with 12-18 years in Taiwan would certainly know that that type of behavior is inappropriate if not creepy, to say the least.

I would like to wish you well, but from everything Ive read, I unfortunately feel I should tell you that resigning might be your best option as I see it.


Brandon