Annual village and subdistrict headman day

Today is the village and subdistrict headman day (วันกำนันผู้ใหญ่บ้าน), celebrated every year to honor the works of these special officials, who are both elected by popular vote but are still paid officials under the Ministry of the Interior.

As found on the Panyathai wiki, the date August 10 was the date of the first election of a village headman. On this date in 1892, village and subdistrict headman in Bang Pa In district of modern-day Ayutthaya province were elected as a trial of the new thesaphiban administrative system. This system was officially introduced nation-wide with the local administration act of 1914. Sadly the text does not say when this date was announced as a remembrance day and celebrated every year since, however I was able to find an announcement in the Royal Gazette dating from 1989.

The word-file attached to the announcement I noticed at DOPA includes greetings from the various religious groups and also some ministerial officials. In detail the contributors are

• The Supreme Patriarch Nyanasamvara Suvaddhana (สมเด็จพระญาณสังวร)
• The chief of the Muslim in Thailand (จุฬาราชมนตรี), Sawat Sumalaisak (นายสวาสดิ์ สุมาลยศักดิ์)
• Chaovarat Chanweerakul (นายชวรัตน์ ชาญวีรกูล), Minister of the Interior
• Wichai Sikhwan (นายวิชัย ศรีขวัญ), Permanent Secretary for Interior
• Wongsak Sawatphanit (นายวงศ์ศักดิ์ สวัสดิ์พาณิชย์), Director-General of the Department of Provincial Administration