Boundary districts of the year

Thanks to my RSS feeds of the DOPA announcements I can report on the annual award given to the best boundary districts. The original announcement 43/2008 is of course completely in Thai, so I hope I did not misunderstand it too much in my summary.

The awarding of the most efficient districts on the boundaries to the neighboring countries follows a program aimed at improving the stability at the boundaries running from 2007 till 2011. The four winning districts were announced by the director-general Mr. Wichai Sikhwan (วิชัย ศรีขวัญ) of the Department of Provincial Administration last Thursday.

1. Chai Prakan (อำเภอไชยปราการ). Chiang Mai province, at the boundary to the Union of Myanmar
2. Phon Phisai (อำเภอโพนพิสัย), Nong Khai province, at the boundary to Laos
3. Phu Sing (อำเภอภูสิงห์), Si Sa Ket province, at the boundary to Cambodia
4. Betong (อำเภอเบตง), Yala province, at the boundary to Malaysia

I don't know whether it is a coincidence or intentionally that for each of the neighboring country one district was selected. In fact this announcement was the first time I have heard about this program, but as awards are very popular in Thailand it is not the only program to reward officers or offices for outstanding performance. Earlier I have seen one awarding the best district officers, and if I recall correctly there were calls for nomination of outstanding subdistrict headmen as well.