Special administration area of Pattaya

Pattaya is an administrative entity unique in Thailand, though similar with the normal municipalities (Thesaban) its actual local administration is covered by a special law. This includes an elected mayor since the creation of the special area in 1978, something only adopted to the municipalities with the revision of the Thesaban act in 2000. I haven't yet found a good list of the further differences between the two administration systems.

In a 1998 issue of the Pattaya Mail it has the following short news.

In a very short time, Pattaya will become a self-governing 'Thesaban Nakorn', or city. This is due to the failure experienced during Pattaya's 20 years as a 'special city'. The government has seen fit to 'move backward' and make Pattaya a 'Thesaban Nakorn' to which Thai people are accustomed.

Apparently this change of the city status was not done, as still today it has its special status. It is a pity there are no further details on this plan in that article, especially interesting to know why it was skipped.