Friday, July 31, 2009

District office in the house of museums

A very interesting museum in the western outskirts of Bangkok is the House of Museums (บ้านพิพิธภัณฑ์), where lots of everyday items of the 1950s and 1960s are collected and displayed. All floors are interesting, but when I reached the top floor to my pleasant surprise I found myself in front of the workplace of a district officer.

The place is titled ที่ว่าการอำเภอสีหนคร (Thi Wa Gan Amphoe Si Nakhon, district office Si Nakhon), a totally fictional name however. On the desk it has an old typewriter, in the wardrobe to the right several items from the work of the officer - most notable the gun and two issues of the thesaphiban magazine, the official magazine for the administration. On the wall it as a map and some other fitting illustrations, as well as some official documents which looked a bit like the announcements in the Royal Gazette - but as I could not read them I have no idea what they are actually are about.

The exhibits are actually not completely contemporary - the map on the wall still shows French Indochina so was from before 1949, the thesaphiban magazine was from 1953, and on the desk itself was a Siam statistical yearbook of 1969 (which I had that one in my library as well). But it gives a nice nostalgic view on how these offices looked like in the past - even though I have taken photos of quite a lot of the buildings already, if I recall correctly I only was inside two of them yet, and obviously they did not look like the one in the museum anymore.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Municipal decisions for June 15 2009

Meeting number 15 of board 1 from June 15 2009 with 11 TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.
  • Som Sa-at (เทศบาลตำบลสมสะอาด), Det Udom district, Ubon Ratchathani province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 56 km², 13 villages and 10,477 citizen.
  • Khok Kong (เทศบาลตำบลโคกก่ง), Chanuman district, Amnat Charoen province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 136.80 km², 13 villages and 6,378 citizen.
  • Pueai (เทศบาลตำบลเปือย), Lue Amnat district, Amnat Charoen province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 60 km², 13 villages and 7,193 citizen.
  • Klang Wiang (เทศบาลตำบลกลางเวียง), Wiang Sa district, Nan province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 100.05 km², 19 villages and 9,302 citizen.
  • Pong Pa Wai (เทศบาลตำบลปงป่าหวาย), Den Chai district, Phrae province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 47.19 km², 9 villages and 4,756 citizen.
  • Nong Plong (เทศบาลตำบลหนองปล่อง), Chamni district, Buriram province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 36 km², 10 villages and 5,442 citizen.
  • Nong Bua Lakhon (เทศบาลตำบลหนองบัวละคร), Dan Khun Thot district, Nakhon Ratchasima province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 42.46 km², 9 villages and 3,572 citizen.
  • Kut Pla Duk (เทศบาลตำบลกุดปลาดุก), Chuen Chom district, Maha Sarakham province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 37 km², 15 villages and 8,206 citizen.
  • Ko Thepho (เทศบาลตำบลเกาะเทโพ), Mueang Uthai Thani district, Uthai Thani province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 10 km², 6 villages and 2,527 citizen.
  • Nong Kham (เทศบาลตำบลหนองขาม), Kaeng Khro district, Chiayaphum province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 49 km², 13 villages and 7,151 citizen.
  • Sa Khut (เทศบาลตำบลสระขุด), Chumphon Buri district, Surin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 52.35 km², 11 villages and 6,451 citizen.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

RCode list in detail

While working through the municipality geocodes in the new code file named RCode, I noticed some strange or interesting cases worth noting.

The list includes a code for the town Aranyaprathet (เทศบาลเมืองอรัญญประเทศ) in the province Prachinburi (2597) marked as obsolete with an asterisk, and another one in Sa Kaeo (2798). Therefore the system of municipality codes starting with 99 must have been adopted before 1993 already, the year when Sa Kaeo province was established. The capital towns for the other provinces created in 1993 were only sanitary districts which had no codes, so Aranyaprathet is the only proof for this dating.

In Udon Thani, there are two subdistrict municipalities named Nong Phai (เทศบาลตำบลหนองไผ่), one in Mueang Udon hani district and one in Nong Han district. The table does not include the districts but only gives the names and the numbers, so it's not possible to identify which one got the 4167 and which one the 4168.

Now to the real strange case. In Lopburi the code 1687, marked as obsolete or inactive by the asterisk, refers to the subdistrict municipality Nong Muang (เทศบาลตำบลหนองม่วง). However I suspect it does not refer to the former sanitary district upgraded in 1999, as that already has the code 1693, but instead to the TAO Nong Muang (องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบลหนองม่วง). Maybe it was planned to upgraded that one, but in fact it never was till today.

In Roi Et it even has three names showing up twice, and here the explanation with the TAO eponymous with the municipality does not work. The three cases are:
An very odd code is the number 1099 which refers to สำนักทะเบียนกลาง, the central register, which corresponds to no local or central administrative territorial entity.

As already mentioned, for Nakhon Ratchasima all of the possible codes are already used, and there still a lot of TAO upgraded in 2008 which have no number assigned. So they must create a new coding scheme for the municipalities.

And finally, the list includes the Sakha Tambon (something I still have no idea about) as well as the planned new districts I found earlier, only those for Chiang Mai I did not include into my lists before. And interestingly, these four district names in Chiang Mai made me discover some other interesting new stuff, which will be topic of a new posting.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Municipal decisions for June 10 2009

Meeting number 14 from June 10 2009 with 12 TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.
  • Nong Suang (เทศบาลตำบลหนองสรวง), Nong Kung Si district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 57 km², 11 villages and 5,301 citizen.
  • Don Chan (เทศบาลตำบลดอนจาน), Don Chan district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 38.21 km², 13 villages and 5,416 citizen.
  • Bo Kaeo (เทศบาลตำบลบ่อแก้ว), Na Muean district, Nan province, effective on the day after announcement. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 98 km², 14 villages and 4,741 citizen.
  • Pho Talat Kaeo (เทศบาลตำบลโพตลาดแก้ว), Tha Wung district, Lopburi province, effective on July 15 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 19.76 km², 10 villages and 4,840 citizen.
  • Bang Yi Rong (เทศบาลตำบลบางยี่รงค์), Bang Khonthi district, Samut Songkhram province, effective on July 15 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 9.02 km², 10 villages and 2,026 citizen.
  • Pho Sai (เทศบาลตำบลโพธิ์ไทร), Don Than district, Mukdahan province, effective on July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 28.60 km², 7 villages and 4,686 citizen.
  • Tha Miram (เทศบาลตำบลท่ามิหรำ), Mueang Phatthalung district, Phatthalung province, effective on July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 12.03 km², 10 villages and 5,019 citizen.
  • Phak Mai (เทศบาลตำบลผักไหม), Sikhoraphum district, Surin province, effective on July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 56 km², 11 villages and 7,664 citizen.
  • Nong Lan (เทศบาลตำบลหนองลาน), Tha Makha district, Kanchanaburi province, effective on July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 19.80 km², 8 villages and 4,282 citizen.
  • Mueang Pan (เทศบาลตำบลเมืองปาน), Mueang Pan district, Lampang province, effective on July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 120 km², 9 villages and 5,525 citizen.
  • Phon Ngam (เทศบาลตำบลโพนงาม), Det Udom district, Ubon Ratchathani province, effective on July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 58 km², 13 villages and 8,613 citizen.
  • Nong Hi (เทศบาลตำบลหนองฮี), Nong Hi district, Roi Et province, effective on July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 52.68 km², 17 villages and 6,325 citizen.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Surat Thani PAO by-election results

The by-election for the chairman of the Surat Thani provincial organization (PAO) was done yesterday, and the website of the PAO has the full results down to each constituency in one PDF file. It was a quite close result:
  1. Montri Phetchakhum (มนตรี เพชรขุ้ม, Candidate 3, top poster) - 113,340 votes or 38.1%
  2. Damrong Thaugsuban (ดำรงค์ เทือกสุบรรณ, Candidate 1, poster below) - 111,776 votes or 37.6%
  3. Prawit Ninwatromni (ประวิช นิลวัชรมณี, Candidate 2) - 72,136 votes or 24.3%
Out of the 676,850 eligible votes, slightly less than half (i.e. 322,768) did cast their vote. 5,993 votes were invalid, another 19,853 were abstains.

I am slightly surprised that Montri, the one who filed the complaint against Thani Thaugsuban which led to this by-election, could win and not the Damrong, who gave up his seat in the PAO council and the post of the speaker of the council so he must have be quite sure to be the winner.

Additionally to the chairman, also the council member for Ko Samui was elected, as the former council member Surinya Yuennan (สุริญญา ยืนนาน) was red-carded; and also in Tha Chana a by-election was necessary as this was the constituency of Damrong Thaugsuban who had to resign his council seat to run for the chairman position.

The results for these two constituencies are as following.
  • Ko Samui
    1. Charoen Chansa (เจริญ จันทรา, Candidate 2, see poster) - 8,422 votes
    2. Suwaphat Samwang (สุวพัฒน์ สมหวัง, Candidate 1) - 7,867 votes
  • Tha Chana
    1. Bunying Yongli (บุญยิ่ง ย้งลี, Candidate 1) - 12,264 votes
    2. Phittinan Rak-iat(พิตตินันท์ รักเอียด, Candidate 2) - 4,140 votes
    3. Watthana Samli (วัฒนา สำลี, Candidate 3) - 3,640 votes
    4. Somdet Phromwiset (สมเดช พรหมวิเศษ, Candidate 4) - 569 votes
Many thanks to Camille from the Samui info and weather blog, who has provided me with the photos of the election posters.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Province hall of Thonburi

I was wondering before about a building on the Thonburi river shore near Memorial Bridge, which has the same building style as administrative offices outside Bangkok. Especially when looking at it on Google Maps the similarity becomes notable - but I knew already that it is not any of the district offices in Bangkok. Only when I visited the district museum of Thonburi district within Wat Prayun I learned that this building was the province hall (Sala Klang) of Thonburi province, built only few years before the provinces Thonburi and Phra Nakhon were merged into the Bangkok metropolis in 1971. As it wasn't needed for the city administration then anymore, it is now used as the office of the Department of Law Enforcement (สำนักเทศกิจ).

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Municipal decisions for June 11 2009

Meeting number 15 from June 11 2009 with 12 TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.
  • Tanot Duan (เทศบาลตำบลโตนดด้วน), Khuan Khanun district, Phatthalung province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 35.32 km², 11 villages and 5,850 citizen.
  • Laem Tanot (เทศบาลตำบลแหลมโตนด), Khuan Khanun district, Phatthalung province, effective August 1 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 18.36 km², 9 villages and 4,846 citizen.
  • Si Wichian (เทศบาลตำบลสีวิเชียร), Nam Yuen district, Ubon Ratchathani province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 109.01 km², 15 villages and 5,906 citizen.
  • Bu Pueai (เทศบาลตำบลบุเปือย), Nam Yuen district, Ubon Ratchathani province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 93.65 km², 15 villages and 8,977 citizen.
  • Na Wang (เทศบาลตำบลนาวัง), Mueang Amnat Charoen district, Amnat Charoen province, effective on announcement. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 34.70 km², 11 villages and 4,630 citizen.
  • Luang Tai (เทศบาลตำบลหลวงใต้), Ngao district, Lampang province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 24.69 km², 8 villages and 5,957 citizen.
  • Wang Khaem (เทศบาลตำบลวังแขม), Khlong Khlung district, Kampaeng Phet province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 112.85 km², 16 villages and 10,138 citizen.
  • Nong Bua (เทศบาลตำบลหนองบัว), Ngao district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 65 km², 13 villages and 7,016 citizen.
  • Mueang Phai (เทศบาลตำบลเมืองไผ่), Krasang district, Buriram province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 38.42 km², 13 villages and 7,013 citizen.
  • Phak Waen (เทศบาลตำบลผักแว่น), Changhan district, Roi Et province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 21.82 km², 13 villages and 4,994 citizen.
  • Ban Luang (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านหลวง), Chom Thong district, Chiang Mai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 380.61 km², 23 villages and 13,434 citizen.
  • Mae Tao (เทศบาลตำบลแม่ตาว), Mae Sot district, Tak province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 45.50 km², 6 villages and 6,529 citizen.

This was the last of the previous bunch of upgrades, and just today new files were added to the website with another 201 TAO upgrades. My question to the readers: shall I continue to post these boring lists in this blog, or change to post them only in the special Thesaban blog? While these postings might attract some readers looking for information on the municipalities, they also clutter the postings on the other topics. So please give me some feedback on this.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Outstanding district officer award 2009

On Friday the Department of Provincial Administration (DOPA) announced the 12 finalists for the 2009 outstanding district officer award (นายอำเภอที่มีผลงานดีเด่นระดับเขต ประจำปี 2552). If it will same as last year, then it will have four winners, one for each region.

The finalists per area are the following. Note that since I only have the names in Thai, the romanized names follow the RTGS transcription, however it is quite possible the officers in real use a different spelling.
  • Area 1 (Chiang Mai, Tak, Mae Hong Son, Lampang, Lamphun): Chokdi Omrawat (นายโชคดี อมรวัฒน์), district officer of Chai Prakan, Chiang Mai.
  • Area 2 (Chiang Rai, Nan, Phrae, Sukhothai, Uttaradit): Wirachai Phupiangchai (นายวีระชัย ภู่เพียงใจ), district officer of Sawankhalok, Sukhothai.
  • Area 3 (Kamphaeng Phet, Nakhon Sawan, Phichit, Phitsanulok, Phetchabun, Uthai Thani): Phibun Hattagitgoson (นายพิบูลย์ หัตถกิจโกศล), district officer of Khao Kho, Phetchabun.
  • Area 4 (Nonthaburi, Nakhon Pathom, Pathum Thani, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya, Samut Songkhram, Samut Sakhon, Ang Thong): Ratri Bunyong (นายราตรี บุญยง), district officer of Chaiyo, Ang Thong.
  • Area 5 (Chachoengsao, Nakhon Nayok, Prachinburi, Lopburi, Saraburi, Singburi): Phaitun Waichai (นายไพฑูรย์ ไวยฉาย), district officer of Don Phut, Saraburi.
  • Area 6 (Chanthaburi, Chonburi, Trat, Rayong, Samut Prakan, Sa Kaeo): Yutotna Nutnarot (นายยุทธนา นุชนารถ), district officer of Khok Sung, Sa Kaeo.
  • Area 7 (Kanchanaburi, Chainat, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Phetchaburi, Ratchaburi, Suphanburi): Somchai Loetpongpagon (นายสมชาย เลิศพงศ์ภากรณ์), district officer of U Thong, Suphanburi.
  • Area 8 (Nakhon Phanom, Loei, Sakon Nakhon, Nong Khai, Nong Bua Lamphu, Udon Thani): Nikhom Sirisingsangchai (นายนิคม ศิริสิงห์สังชัย), district officer of Kut Chap, Udon Thani.
  • Area 9 (Khon Kaen, Chaiyaphum, Nakhon Ratchasima, Buriram, Maha Sarakham, Suri): Kraison Kongchalat (นายไกรสร กองฉลาด), district officer of Sam Sung, Khon Kaen.
  • Area 10 (Kalasin, Mukdahan, Yasothon, Roi Et, Sisaket, Amnat Charoen, Ubon Ratchathani): Watthana Phutichat (นายวัฒนา พุฒิชาติ), district officer of Khemarat, Ubon Ratchathani.
  • Area 11 (Chumphon, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Ranong, Surat Thani, Krabi, Phang Nga, Phuket): Cholosak Wanitcharoen (นายชลอศักดิ์ วาณิชย์เจริญ), district officer of Mueang Surat Thani, Surat Thani.
  • Area 12 (Trang, Phatthalung, Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala, Songkhla, Satun): Sanan Phongakson (นายสนั่น พงษ์อักษร), district officer of Nong Chik, Pattani.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Municipal decisions for June 8 2009

Meeting number 13 of board one from June 8 2009 with 12 TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.
  • Na Mo Ma (เทศบาลตำบลนาหมอม้า), Mueang Amnat Charoen district, Amnat Charoen province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 44.35 km², 8 villages and 4,229 citizen.
  • Na Pa Saeng (เทศบาลตำบลนาป่าแซง), Pathum Ratchawongsa district, Amnat Charoen province, effective August 1 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 81.34 km², 10 villages and 5,614 citizen.
  • Huai Yang Kham (เทศบาลตำบลห้วยยางขาม), Chun district, Phayao province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 52 km², 11 villages and 5,946 citizen.
  • Dong Suwan (เทศบาลตำบลดงสุวรรณ), Chun district, Phayao province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 65 km², 11 villages and 5,268 citizen.
  • Ko Nang Kham (เทศบาลตำบลเกาะนางคำ), Pak Phayun district, Phatthalung province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 77 km², 9 villages and 5,508 citizen.
  • Bang Son (เทศบาลตำบลบางสน), Pathio district, Chumphon province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 83.87 km², 7 villages and 3,345 citizen.
  • Wang Nam Khu (เทศบาลตำบลวังน้ำคู้), Mueang Phitsanulok district, Phitsanulok province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 23.98 km², 8 villages and 4,246 citizen.
  • Lai Ngao (เทศบาลตำบลหล่ายงาว), Wiang Kaen district, Chiang Rai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 76 km², 6 villages and 3,440 citizen.
  • Khao Phra Non (เทศบาลตำบลเขาพระนอน), Yang Talat district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 32.14 km², 9 villages and 5,803 citizen.
  • Khok Sung (เทศบาลตำบลโคกสูง), Mueang Chaiyaphum district, Chaiyaphum province, was moved to next meeting.
  • Ban Khueang (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านเขือง), Chiang Khwan district, Roi Et province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 24.28 km², 13 villages and 6,347 citizen.
  • Fang Daeng (เทศบาลตำบลฝั่งแดง), That Phanom district, Nakhon Phanom province, effective August 1 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 27.57 km², 11 villages and 6,950 citizen.
  • Khun Krathing (เทศบาลตำบลขุนกระทิง), Mueang Chumphon district, Chumphon province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 19.94 km², 8 villages and 3,975 citizen.

Monday, July 20, 2009

More geocode lists from DOPA

When I recently checked for the standard geocode list ccaatt with the codes for all the central administrative entities (except the Muban), I did not use the direct link as usual but instead went to the description page. To my surprise I noticed it not only has that list linked there as it had in the past, but now there are four more zipped text files.

The one most interesting is RCODE contains only the first two levels province and district, but what is new it also contains the codes for the municipalities. It confirms that they continued the scheme I found earlier, and in case of Nakhon Ratchasima they now exhausted the numbers, thus making a new scheme necessary:
  3036|กิ่งอำเภอห้วยบง*|
  3037|ท้องถิ่นเทศบาลตำบลเมืองยาง|
The municipalities listed is nearly up-to-date, the above listed Mueang Yang (เทศบาลตำบลเมืองยาง) was upgraded in 2008.

The other three THANON, SOI and TROK seem to give codes to streets as the named suggest - Thanon (ถนน), Soi (ซอย) and Trok (ตรอก) are three different level of streets. Strangely these codes are codes which I would normally expect for the villages. For example, the Soi we normally stay in Bangkok Noi, Soi Wat Mali, which is Soi 35 of Thanon Charansanit Wong is found in the Soi list as
  10200026| |วัดมะลิ|
where the main road is in the Thanon list as
  10200001|จรัญสนิทวงศ์|
However the three lists don't using unique codes, the above 10200001 from the Thanon list in the Soi list points to สถานีรถไฟ (Train Station, maybe the road connecting Arun Amarin road with Itsaraphap at Thonburi railway station), and even in the Trok list it is found, referring to วัดระฆัง - the small street towards Wat Rakang.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Municipal decisions for June 4 2009

Meeting number 13 from June 4 2009 with nine TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.
  • Kaeng (เทศบาลตำบลแก้ง), Det Udom district, Ubon Ratchathani province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 65 km², 11 villages and 7,882 citizen.
  • Kham Nam Saep (เทศบาลตำบลคำน้ำแซบ), Warin Chamrap district, Ubon Ratchathani province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 12.01 km², 10 villages and 7,135 citizen.
  • Khok Ngam (เทศบาลตำบลโคกงาม), Ban Fang district, Khon Kaen province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 47 km², 10 villages and 5,563 citizen.
  • Nong Sao Lao (เทศบาลตำบลหนองเสาเล้า), Ban Fang district, Khon Kaen province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 27.50 km², 10 villages and 6,540 citizen.
  • Mae Thot (เทศบาลตำบลแม่ถอด), Thoen district, Lampang province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 153 km², 13 villages and 6,727 citizen.
  • Ban Han (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านหาร), Bang Klam district, Songkhla province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 12 km², 5 villages and 3,499 citizen.
  • Si Samran (เทศบาลตำบลศรีสำราญ), Phon Charoen district, Nong Khai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 87.01 km², 7 villages and 4,427 citizen.
  • Thang Phra (เทศบาลตำบลทางพระ), Pho Thong district, Ang Thong province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 12.75 km², 8 villages and 2,721 citizen.
  • Pho Thong (เทศบาลตำบลโพธิ์ทอง), Si Somdet district, Roi Et province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 17.85 km², 7 villages and 2,821 citizen.

Friday, July 17, 2009

Prince of ... titles

Statue of the Prince of ChumphonA lot of the royals in the beginning of the 20th century are known by titles like "Prince of Chumphon" or "Prince of Chainat". It was apparently introduced by King Chulalongkorn modeled after the usage in England, most famously the Prince of Wales who is the heir apparent there. In English it is rendered as "Prince of", while in Thai it is "กรมหลวง" (Krom Luang).

I had tried to ask for more details in the 2bangkok forum, but did not get much then. So what would be most interesting is which of the provinces were used for a royal title, especially if one of the no longer existing provinces like e.g. Lang Suan was among them, or if any title was given to more than one royalty. Those I have read about quite often are the following
  • Prince of Chumphon (กรมหลวงชุมพรเขตอุดมศักดิ์), Abhakara Kiartiwongse, the founder of the Thai Navy. The statue in the photo above is showing him.
  • Prince of Songkhla (กรมหลวงสงขลานครินทร์), Prince Mahidol, the father of the King
  • Prince of Chainat (กรมหมื่นชัยนาทนเรนทร), Prince Rangsit Prayurasakdi
  • Princess of Narathiwat (กรมหลวงนราธิวาสราชนครินทร์), Galyani Vadhana, the elder sister of the King. She was also the latest one who received such a title in 1995
Only found with the help of the Thai Wikipedia and their list of all Krom Luang are a prince of Nakhon Ratchasima, Nakhon Chaisi, Phichit, Phitsanulok, Phetchaburi, Ratchaburi, and Lopburi. But these are only those who have an article in the Thai Wikipedia so far, so quite likely it is incomplete. These titles should not be confused with the "na" family names, e.g. the "na Ranong" (ณ ระนอง) family. These are the descendants of the former local aristocracy of the former provincial governors before the thesaphiban reforms. Especially the na Ranong family would be worth a separate blog posting.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Municipal decisions for June 3 2009

Again, both boards convened on the same day, and decided on a total of 23 TAO.

Meeting number 12 of board one from June 3 2009 with 13 TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.
  • Ban Duea (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านเดื่อ), Mueang Nong Khai district, Nong Khai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 37.57 km², 16 villages and 7,183 citizen.
  • Ban Bak (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านบาก), Si Somdet district, Roi Et province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 18.31 km², 8 villages and 2,966 citizen.
  • Mueang Thong (เทศบาลตำบลเมืองทอง), Mueang Roi Et district, Roi Et province, effective August 1 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 26.25 km², 10 villages and 5,159 citizen.
  • Nong Lom (เทศบาลตำบลหนองหล่ม), Dok Khamtai district, Phayao province, effective May 1 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 176.63 km², 9 villages and 5,902 citizen.
  • Chiang Khruea (เทศบาลตำบลเชียงเครือ), Mueang Kalasin district, Kalasin province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 87.17 km², 11 villages and 7,118 citizen.
  • Don Sai (เทศบาลตำบลดอนทราย), Khuan Khanun district, Phatthalung province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 35 km², 11 villages and 5,402 citizen.
  • Ban Kho (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านค้อ), Kamcha-i district, Mukdahan province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 97.64 km², 11 villages and 7,087 citizen.
  • Chamni (เทศบาลตำบลชำนิ), Chamni district, Buriram province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 32.81 km², 8 villages and 4,638 citizen.
  • Oraphim (เทศบาลตำบลอรพิมพ์), Khonburi district, Nakhon Ratchasima province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 47.20 km², 8 villages and 5,796 citizen.
  • Na Chum Saeng (เทศบาลตำบลนาชุมแสง), Phu Wiang district, Khon Kaen province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 62.10 km², 12 villages and 6,544 citizen.
  • Wang Hong (เทศบาลตำบลวังหงส์), Mueang Phrae district, Phrae province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 18.30 km², 7 villages and 3,408 citizen.
  • Pa Ngio (เทศบาลตำบลป่างิ้ว), Wiang Pa Pao district, Chiang Rai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1998, covers 150 km², 16 villages and 9,485 citizen.
  • Thung Ngam (เทศบาลตำบลทุ่งงาม), Soem Ngam district, Lampang province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 110 km², 7 villages and 4,198 citizen.
Meeting number 12 of board 2 from June 3 2009 with ten TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.
  • Kong Ra (เทศบาลตำบลกงหรา), Kong Ra district, Phatthalung province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 60.16 km², 7 villages and 4,003 citizen.
  • Phraek Ha (เทศบาลตำบลแพรกหา), Khuan Khanun district, Phatthalung province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 19.20 km², 8 villages and 5,631 citizen.
  • Cha Lae (เทศบาลตำบลชะแล้), Singhanakhon district, Songkhla province, effective on the date of announcement. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 8.90 km², 5 villages and 2,786 citizen.
  • Na Cha-ang (เทศบาลตำบลนาชะอัง), Mueang Chumphon district, Chumphon province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 32 km², 9 villages and 6,268 citizen.
  • Kham Bok (เทศบาลตำบลคำบก), Khamcha-i district, Mukdahan province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 31 km², 6 villages and 2,521 citizen.
  • Huai (เทศบาลตำบลห้วย), Khamcha-i district, Amnat Charoen province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 61 km², 13 villages and 6,914 citizen.
  • Suan Khuean (เทศบาลตำบลสวนเขื่อน), Mueang Phrae district, Phrae province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 60.40 km², 10 villages and 5,556 citizen.
  • Choporo (เทศบาลตำบล จ.ป.ร.), Kraburi district, Ranong province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 173 km², 11 villages and 11,662 citizen.
  • Phra Bat Wang Tuang (เทศบาลตำบลพระบาทวังตวง), Mae Phrik district, Lampang province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 141 km², 8 villages and 3,885 citizen.
  • Tha Khao Plueak (เทศบาลตำบลท่าข้าวเปลือก), Mae Chan district, Chiang Rai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 160.76 km², 14 villages and 7,558 citizen.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

New Google Earth hires data for Thailand

Yesterday Google rolled out another update of their imaginary in Google Earth. I tried to look myself if I can spot newly covered areas myself, but only noticed that the Tai Rom Yen national park in Surat Thani now has hires data - but that's almost only jungle. When Google today officially announced the areas updated they for the first time provided a KML file which marks all the updated areas (kudos to Google Earth Blog who featured it), especially as in the official announcement no mention of Thailand at all.

It turns out that I was right with the national park, which in fact was the only update for all of southern Thailand. What I missed was a strip southeast of Sisaket including Khun Han district, the center of Amnat Charoen province and Tha Pla district in Uttaradit. Thus only a small update, but now another 5 district articles on Wikipedia got their location exactly pinpointed to the district office, and one more city pillar shrine added in my Lak Mueang map.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Village rename in Phitsanulok

Published in the Royal Gazette on July 9 was the rename of one village (muban) in Tha Ngam subdistrict, Wat Bot district, Phitsanulok province. (Volume 126, Issue 76 ง, Page 250).

Village number 6, previously named Ban Nong Ai Phon (บ้านหนองอ้ายโพ้น), was renamed to Ban Khao Rai Si Ratcha (บ้านเขาไร่ศรีราชา). The rationale for the rename is that both the temple as well as the school in the village are named Khao Rai Si Ratcha.

The committee responsible for deciding name changes of provinces, district, subdistricts, villages and other official places (คณะกรรมการพิจารณาเรื่อง การขอเปลี่ยนแปลงชื่อจังหวัด อำเภอ และตำบล หมู่บ้าน หรือสถานที่ราชการอื่น ๆ) approved the proposed name change in its meeting 6/2008 (๖/๒๕๕๑) on December 11 2008, and the announcement was signed on February 5 by the governor of Phitsanulok province.

Just sad that apparently the meeting transcripts of the naming committee aren't available online, unlike those of the municipal committee I post about so often here.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Geocodes for municipalities - my proposal

Thai standard TIS 1099:2548 includes some codes for municipalities, and in some Excel sheets I found more of the same kind, giving the municipalities a code at district level starting from 99 counting downwards. However the scheme, apparently originating from DOPA, used to create those codes cannot be continued anymore as now we have so many new municipalities, soon reaching 100 in Nakhon Ratchasima and already now interfering with the district codes.

The second geocode system comes from DOLA, and includes the subdistrict administrative organizations (TAO) and provincial administrative organizations (PAO) as well. However this one is incompatible with the DOPA system, and has some other flaws I already mentioned while writing about it before.

Though I doubt this will ever be read by anyone who is responsible for creating these coding schemes and taking care of future versions for that standard, let alone get adopted, I want to present my own idea on how to create codes for the local government units which fit into the existing DOPA system, like the DOLA system covers all entities and includes no new arbitrary selected codes.
  • For the municipalities existing in 2000 - that is both the really old municipalities as well as the sanitary districts upgraded in 1999 - continue to use the scheme as already defined in TIS 1099, i.e. give these entities a code at district level counting from 99 downwards. For example in Surat Thani this would mean the codes 8499 down to 8479 would be used.

  • For the TAO, use a code based on the corresponding subdistrict and adding 50 to make sure no code is used twice. 50 also leaves enough space for newly created subdistricts (though it seems there won't be any new ones anymore), or those cases where already rather high subdistrict codes are used from district which were split recently. Also some obscure old codes with subdistrict numbers in the range 90 to 99 won't get reused - I don't know what these codes are about, but there are a few in the ccaatt list from DOPA.
    In case the TAO gets upgraded to a municipality, the code is not changed. For example subdistrict municipality Wat Pradu in Surat Thani would get the 840153, as the corresponding subdistrict has the code 840103.
  • If there really needs to be a code for the PAO as well, this could get the code 0099, the Surat Thani PAO then would be 840099. Thus it makes clear it's not a district nor a normal municipality.
The only disadvantage of this system would be the fact that those municipalities existing before 2000 would get a code in a different system than those created afterward. However I think this is an acceptable trade-off in order to keep the already published codes for municipalities.

Once defined like this, the subdivisions of the municipalites would fit into it easily as well. Just like the villages (muban), the chumchon would use the digits 7 and 8 regardless whether the municipality has a code with four or six digits. Quite the contrary, this would have an advantage, as it seems that a few of the largest municipalities have an addition subdivision called Kwaeng, so these then could use the digits 5 and 6. For example, the first chumchon in the first Kwaeng of Chiang Mai would be 50990101, while the first chumchon of Surat Thani gets 84990001.

Any comments? Anyone willing to translate it to Thai and forward to the persons responsible?

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Municipal decisions for June 1 2009

Meeting number 11 of board one from June 1 2009 with seven TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.
  • Non Sung (เทศบาลตำบลโนนสูง), Khun Han district, Sisaket province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 52.07 km², 6 villages and 4,480 citizen.
  • Ban Duea (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านเดื่อ), Mueang Nong Khai district, Nong Khai province was scheduled for discussion, but was moved to meeting number 12.
  • Sila Laeng (เทศบาลตำบลศิลาแลง), Pua district, Nan province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 91 km², 8 villages and 3,906 citizen.
  • Wan Yai (เทศบาลตำบลหว้านใหญ่), Wan Yai district, Mukdahan province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 19 km², 11 villages and 4,752 citizen.
  • Khon Buri Tai (เทศบาลตำบลครบุรีใต้), Khon Buri district, Nakhon Ratchasima province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 91.60 km², 16 villages and 7,462 citizen.
  • Tha Pha (เทศบาลตำบลท่าผา), Mae Chaem district, Chiang Mai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 115.88 km², 10 villages and 4,932 citizen.
  • Bang Mafo (เทศบาลตำบลบางมะฝ่อ), Krok Phra district, Nakhon Sawan province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 16.78 km², 6 villages and 4,261 citizen.

Friday, July 10, 2009

District offices in Prachuap Khiri Khan

This year we were driving from Surat Thani to Bangkok by car, not by overnight bus or train as most other times. Especially while passing through the province Prachuap Khiri Khan, which marks the narrowest part of Thailand connecting the South with the central part, we passed several district offices since they are located directly next to the Phetkasem highway, the main road through the province.

While the southern districts of the province have their district office a bit separated from the highway - about 8 kilometer for Bang Saphan and Bang Saphan Noi and about two kilometer for Thap Sakae. In the town Prachuap Khiri Khan itself its also two kilometers from the highway, but since we stopped there anyway for eating I used the chance to complete my collection of photos of the offices in town, as well as confirm the location of the Catholic church.And of course the district office of the Mueang Prachuap Khiri Khan district was one of these offices I photographed this time.

Continuing to the north the following district offices are directly at the highway. The next one is the one of Kui Buri, located in north of the small town Kui Buri. The next one would have been Khao Sam Roi Yot, however that one I failed to spot from car, probably because it is located on the other side of the street, towards the sea. Also, there's no real settlement around the district office, so we probably passed it quite fast.

The next one is located in a town again, this time Pran Buri. Again, the district office is a bit north of the town center. Interestingly, directly next to the district office is the office of the municipality Pran Buri, a much less representative building. The final district office is in Hua Hin, but we took the bypass and not drove through the town itself. But earlier in the last vacation we were in Hua Hin, and I used the short time we spend in the town itself to take a photo of the municipal office. I could not remember the exact location of the district office, which to my shame is located directly across the street of the municipal office, but I did not notice it. So I can only show three out of the seven district office so far.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Municipal decisions for May 28 2009

Meeting number 11 from May 28 2009 with six TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.
  • Nong Kung (เทศบาลตำบลหนองกุง), Chuen Chom district, Maha Sarakham province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 24.20 km², 10 villages and 4,066 citizen.
  • Mittraphap (เทศบาลตำบลมิตรภาพ), Kae Dam district, Maha Sarakham province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 31.04 km², 21 villages and 6,830 citizen.
  • Choeng Sae (เทศบาลตำบลเชิงแส), Krasae Sin district, Songkhla province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 32.70 km², 4 villages and 2,890 citizen.
  • Khueng (เทศบาลตำบลขึ่ง), Wiang Sa district, Nan province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 94 km², 7 villages and 4,006 citizen.
  • Mueang Kae (เทศบาลตำบลเมืองแก), Tha Tum district, Surin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 58 km², 19 villages and 9,903 citizen.
  • Tao Ngoi (เทศบาลตำบลเต่างอย), Tao Ngoi district, Sakon Nakhon province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 64 km², 7 villages and 5,675 citizen.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Emblem of TAO Ko Tao

One year ago I noticed that the emblem of San Pu Loei in Chiang Mai featured the letters อ (Oh Ang), บ (Bo Baimai) and ต (To Tao) - the Thai abbreviation O.Bo.To. which stands for องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบล (Ong Kan Borihan Suan Tambon), in English called Tambon (Subdistrict) Administrative Organization (TAO or SAO). While that TAO has been upgraded to a municipality and had to change the design of the emblem, I now discovered another one with a similar design, and this time from the province I care about most.

The island Ko Tao (เกาะเต่า) administratively forms a subdistrict of Ko Pha Ngan, the larger island about 40 kilometers to the southeast. This subdistrict was created in 1982, previously the three administrative villages were still part of the Ko Pha Ngan subdistrict. In 1996 the local administration by the TAO was established, taking care of the now 1500 officially registered citizen.

As already mentioned, the emblem I found on the website of the TAO shows the three letters OBT, in this case below a stylized palm island with the sun setting (or rising). Quite clearly a fitting symbol, as this island best known for its diving locations and has lots of palm trees and sandy beaches. I was there only a few hours so far, as a stop during a cruise in the Gulf of Thailand. Actually, I wasn't on the island itself more than a few minutes, as most of the time it was snorkeling in the waters.

The drawing in this posting is from the SVG-Version I made, though definitely not perfect it seems to resemble the one on the TAO website closely enough. Now there only 141 other local government entities emblems left to collect to get a full coverage of the heraldry of Surat Thani...

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Municipal decisions for May 27 2009

Again, both boards convened on this day, deciding a total of 13 TAO upgrades.

Meeting number 10 of board one from May 27 2009 with seven TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.
  • Moei Wadi (เทศบาลตำบลเมยวดี), Moei Wadi district, Roi Et province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 40.80 km², 10 villages and 5,529 citizen.
  • Non Sawang (เทศบาลตำบลโนนสว่าง), Kaset Wisai district, Roi Et province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 48.29 km², 14 villages and 5,319 citizen.
  • Mae Pa (เทศบาลตำบลแม่ปะ), Thoen district, Lampang province, effective July 14 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 164 km², 10 villages and 4,617 citizen.
  • Na Saeng (เทศบาลตำบลนาแส่ง), Ko Kha district, Lampang province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 138 km², 8 villages and 4,908 citizen.
  • Huai Yang (เทศบาลตำบลห้วยยาง), Kranuan district, Khon Kaen province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 33 km², 8 villages and 5,921 citizen.
  • Pa Manao (เทศบาลตำบลป่ามะนาว), Ban Fang district, Khon Kaen province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 41 km², 9 villages and 6,225 citizen.
  • Klang (เทศบาลตำบลกลาง), Det Udom district, Ubon Ratchathani province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 99 km², 18 villages and 13,958 citizen.
Meeting number 10 of board two from May 27 2009 with six TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.
  • Wiang Tan (เทศบาลตำบลเวียงตาล), Hang Chat district, Lampang province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 107.18 km², 11 villages and 8,812 citizen.
  • Pong Yang Khok (เทศบาลตำบลปงยางคก), Hang Chat district, Lampang province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 83.16 km², 13 villages and 9,529 citizen.
  • Ban Kho (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านขอ), Mueang Pan district, Lampang province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 220 km², 13 villages and 8,088 citizen.
  • Pong Tao (เทศบาลตำบลปงเตา), Ngao district, Lampang province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 181.71 km², 13 villages and 8,008 citizen.
  • Soem Klang (เทศบาลตำบลเสริมกลาง), Soem Ngam district, Lampang province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 124.76 km², 8 villages and 4,071 citizen.
  • Don Makluea (เทศบาลตำบลดอนมะเกลือ), U Thong district, Suphanburi province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 23.25 km², 12 villages and 4,456 citizen.

Monday, July 6, 2009

DOLA geocodes revisited

As I now found the DOLA geocodes in use, I have almost worked through the 7853 codes entering them into my spreadsheet. Though quite a lot of work, crosschecking my list of TAOs with this list helped me to find a few mistakes I made while creating this list from the announcements in the Royal Gazette. It were just about 5 cases, so an error ratio of less than 1 promille isn't bad I think.

Enough self-promotion, much more interesting are the details on these codes which I could find out during this work. When I first discovered them I only did a short look into the system to create the codes, and falsely claimed that for each of the levels the entities are numbered starting with the last two digits 01. This is however only partially true - the municipalities existing before 1999 are always having numbers starting with 01, and the TAO start with 01 as well. Those municipalities which upgraded from sanitary districts in 1999 however have their last two digits following the TAO codes. Also, the TAO upgraded to municipalities also kept their last two digits and only had the leading digit changed from 6 (for TAO) to 5 (for subdistrict municipality) - though a lot of them upgraded in the last years are listed as municipality but still have their code start with 6.

An interesting fact I could deduce from the numbers - these codes were adopted in 2003. I can make this quite exact dating due to the fact that between 2000 and 2004 it had several TAO merged with each other or with a neighboring municipality, but also the last of the Tambon councils getting upgraded into TAO. For those TAO abolished in 2004 it (almost) always had a code left out in the numbering, those TAO created in 2004 are added after the former sanitary districts. On the other hand, those few TAO abolished 2000-2002 have no empty space in the numbers.

To prove it with actual cases
  • Wang Kapi (วังกะพี้), Mueang Uttaradit, Uttaradit province - the TAO was merged into the municipality Wang Kapi in 2002, but the codes 6530101 till 5530117 leave final two digit free.
  • Khun Yuam (อบต.ขุนยวม), Khun Yuam district, Mae Hong Son province - the TAO was created in 2004, and has the code 6580206. The former sanitary district Khun Yuam has code 5580205.
  • Talat Chaiya (ตลาดไชยา), Chaiya district, Surat Thani district - the TAO was merged with the municipality Talat Chaiya in 2004. The codes for the district omit the number 03, so I presume that this TAO had the code 6840603.
I have also come across several cases where it has some strange codes, like omitted codes despite there are no abolished entities. I'll write up a list of these as well and post it later.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Municipal decisions for May 25 2009

Meeting number 9 of board one from May 25 2009 with five TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.
  • Thale Noi (เทศบาลตำบลทะเลน้อย), Khuan Khanun district, Phatthalung province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 65 km², 10 villages and 6,614 citizen.
  • Phaya Khan (เทศบาลตำบลพญาขัน), Mueang Phatthalung district, Phatthalung province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 25.97 km², 10 villages and 5,337 citizen.
  • Ban Tan (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านตาล), Hot district, Chiang Mai province, effective March 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 104.80 km², 10 villages and 5,286 citizen.
  • Na Saeng (เทศบาลตำบลนาแซง), Selaphum district, Roi Et province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 40.97 km², 14 villages and 5,737 citizen.
  • Na Saeng (เทศบาลตำบลโพนทราย), Mueang Mukdahan district, Mukdahan province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 87 km², 15 villages and 8,183 citizen.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Ecclesiastical heraldry

Maybe it already showed by the previous posts on the various emblems and seals, heraldry and its ability to create a concise picture for the entity in one simple image is quite fascinating to me. At least in English literature, the Thai heraldry is virtually non-covered to my knowledge. However it's not only the civil administrative entities which have such emblems, the Roman Catholic church it has its ecclesiastic heraldry, for example every bishop has his own coat of arms.

I only became aware of this through random working on Wikipedia, when I discovered that the Polish wikipedian Piotr Michał Jaworski has created several bishopric coat of arms, as well as great boilerplates for the various different levels in the Catholic ecclesiastic hierarchy. Though I am really not an artist in creating drawings with Inkscape, I have now created one such coat of arms for a Thai bishop based on that boilerplate to present it here.

For several reasons I chose the archbishop-elect Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovitvanit (ฟรังซิสเซเวียร์ เกรียงศักดิ์ โกวิทวาณิช), who will be ordained as new Archbishop of Bangkok on August 16. Due to his promotion, he will get a new coat of arms, so the one he used while he was bishop of Nakhon Sawan will no longer be present in public, so I kind of tried to preserve it. Also, the symbols on the shield are quite easy, so it was not difficult to draw even for me, and a high resolution image on the website of the archdiocese helped even more. Finally and funnily, he is a cousin of my Thai teacher here in Germany, something she mentioned when he was chosen as bishop of Nakhon Sawan. It's my personal proof of the Six degrees of separation, I am only 4 steps away from the Pope.

I could not find the full description of the symbols anymore - I remember I saw it once on the website of the diocese of Nakhon Sawan - but I can remember that the stars in the around the central disc symbolize the 13 civil provinces under the diocese. One reason why he cannot use the same symbolism in his new coat of arms as archbishop, because the archdiocese covers one 8 provinces and another two partially. Except the slogan below, everything outside the central shield is the same for all bishops, and varies with the different levels in hierarchy. I have uploaded the SVG-Version into my coding project, but should also upload it to Wikipedia.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Municipal decisions for May 21 2009

Meeting number 9 from May 21 2009 with three cases concerning boundary changes of municipalities.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

TAO levels now reduced to three?

I tried to look again if I might be able to find a list which of the subdistricts belongs to which of the 5 tiers, and as usual Google found me something different but equally interesting instead.

The link Google found was in Thai language blog on tax issues, however dormant for nearly a year already. More specifically, it was the quite lengthy post with background information on the local tax in TAO. I tried Google Translate with the text, and while it is quite garbled the following section is the one which caught my eye
and now Ministry of Interior has proposed a draft Council formulate his district and Tambon Administrative Organization canceled by the new version. Abt. class size to the size of the roast will be divided into 3 size is large Abt. Abt. medium roast, a small town Abt. hold of the type of Abt. Small
Adding to that the first comment to this post, I understand it that way that with the 5th amendment of the TAO act the five levels have been reduced to three levels simply named "small", "medium" and "large". But my Thai is not enough to find any confirmation in the law text which can be found in the Royal Gazette.