@Amphoe 3/2060 available

The 3rd issue of the @Amphoe magazine was just published online earlier today, right on time that I will be able to pick the paper version this one together with the other issues from the past 12 months when I will be traveling to Thailand next month.

The English language content features an interview with Boonlue Thamtaranurak (บุญลือ ธรรมรานุรักษ์), the chief district office of Galyani Vadhana district in Chiang Mai. Another part is on a new division within the Department of Provincial Administration responsible for the Hajj Affairs of the Thai Muslims, following the 3rd amendment of the Hajj Affairs Advancement Act (พระราชบัญญัติส่งเสริมกิจการฮัจย์ (ฉบับที่ ๓) พ.ศ. ๒๕๕๙) which took effect December last year.

Also, as in every issue, one province with its touristic highlights is features, this time Chanthaburi in the east of Thailand - hence the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on the title page of the magazine - one of the few beautiful Roman Catholic churches in Thailand.

New Muban in Galyani Vadhana district, Chiang Mai

Today the Royal Gazette published the announcement of the creation of a new administrative village in Mae Daet subdistrict, Galyani Vadhana district, Chiang Mai, increasing the number of Muban in the subdistrict to eight and for the whole district to 22. The announcement became effective on January 14, and was signed on the same day by the deputy governor (ปลัดจังหวัด) Chokdi Omrawat (โชคดี อมรวัฒน์) as the acting province governor. It was previously approved by the Ministry of Interior in its ministerial order ๐๓๑๐.๑/๑๕๔๔๐ dated December 24.

The new villages has been split off from village number 7 named Ban Tala Mong (บ้านแม่ตะละม้ง), and received the name Ban Tala Mang Mai (บ้านแม่ตะละม้งใหม่) - meaning simply "new Tala Hmong village". From the description of the boundaries listed in the announcement, the division between the two administrative villages goes right through the actual main settlement itself, with the new village covering the southern part of the settlement and what is left of village 7 the northern parts. Since the village is located within forests, most parts of the two administrative villages are uninhabited land.

Geocodes for Galyani Vadhana district

Three months after the district Galyani Vadhana was officially created, the list of codes for the administrative entities was updated accordingly. Though a code for the district was already assigned around 1997 when the district then-named Wat Chan (กิ่งอำเภอวัดจันทร์) was in process of being created, but then abandoned due to the Asian financial crisis. Since Galyani Vadhana district covers exactly the same area as this abandoned minor district, it was only sensible to use the old number 5026 - but for whatever reason DOPA chose 5025 instead, which was in the past assigned to a planned district Wiang Kham (กิ่งอำเภอเวียงคำ). The order of the three subdistricts (Tambon) wasn't possible to know before either, but since it followed the same order as they were mentioned in most new reports I had guessed these numbers correctly.

Code	Name		Old code
502501	บ้านจันทร์	Ban Chan	500306
502502	แม่แดด	Mae Daet	500309
502503	แจ่มหลวง	Chaem Luang	500310

The geocode table from DOPA does not include the villages (Muban), however since I don't think there was any renumbering of the villages within the subdistricts, the codes for them should be easy to guess. So for reference here is the full list of administrative villages in the district.

Subdistrict	Muban	Name		Code
Ban Chan	1	บ้านห้วยฮ่อม	Ban Huai Hom	50250101
	2	บ้านสันม่วง	Ban San Muang	50250102
	3	บ้านวัดจันทร์	Ban Wat Chan	50250103
	4	บ้านหนองเจ็ดหน่วย	Ban Nong Chet Nuai	50250104
	5	บ้านแจ่มน้อย	Ban Chaem Noi	50250105
	6	บ้านหนองแดง	Ban Nong Daeng	50250106
	7	บ้านเด่น	Ban Den	50250107
Mae Daet	1	บ้านแม่ผาปู	Ban Mae Pha Pu	50250201
	2	บ้านแม่ตะละ1	Ban Mae Tala	50250202
	3	บ้านแม่ตะละใต้	Ban Mae Tala Tai	50250203
	4	บ้านแม่แดดน้อย	Ban Mae Daed Noi	50250204
	5	บ้านห้วยปู	Ban Huai Pu	50250205
	6	บ้านดงสามหมื่น	Ban Dong Sam Muen	50250206
	7	บ้านแม่ตะละม้ง	Ban Mae Tala Mang	50250207
Chaem Luang	1	บ้านขุนแม่รวม	Ban Khun Mae Ruam	50250301
	2	บ้านกิ่วโป่ง	Ban Kio Pong	50250302
	3	บ้านแม่ละอุป2	Ban Mae La-up	50250303
	4	บ้านห้วยยา	Ban Huai Ya	50250304
	5	บ้านห้วยเขียดแห้ง	Ban Huai Khiat Haeng	50250305
	6	บ้านแจ่มหลวง	Ban Chaem Luang	50250306
	7	บ้านเสาแดง	Ban Sao Daeng	50250307

¹ In some sources listed as บ้านแม่ตะละเหนือ (Ban Mae Tala Nuea)
² Spelled แม่ละอูบ at DOPA, แม่ละอุป at TAO

The interesting question is why they did not choose 5026 as the code for the district. When in 2006 the district Wiang Kao (อำเภอเวียงเก่า) in Khon Kaen received the code 4029, since the codes 4026 to 4028 were assigned to planned districts abandoned in 1997, same as for Chiang Mai the numbers 5025 to 5028. I tried to send an email to DOPA in the vain hope of getting an explanation, but as usual - no reply.

First district head officer of Galyani Vadhana

After I found the district head officers reassignments of Surat Thani, I tried to look further to find a more complete list. I found a complete list of district head officers as of October 2009, and also two lists of the most recent rounds of reassignments, one in August 2009 and another in February 2010. However strangely both not on the sites of the Ministry of Interior, the August 2090 list was in a gun lover forum, and even more strange the February 2010 list at an insurance company and only available in the Google cache.

As the district Galyani Vadhana was just created in December, only the second list could include a head officer for this district. According to this list, on February 22 2010, Chatthanat Thiankao (ฉัทธนาตย์ เทียนขาว) became the first full head district officer, replacing the acting district officer (รักษาราชการนายอำเภอ) Khunwat Sukhanthakun (คุณวัฒน์ สุคันธะกุล). While I cannot find any full biography of him, I can list the last two positions he held before he became assigned to Galyani Vadhana district. From August 2009 to February 2010 he was in Doi Luang, Chiang Rai province, and before that in Nong Hin, Sisaket province.

Galyani Vadhana district officially created

The 878th district of Thailand and 25th district of Chiang Mai is now officially created. Published in the Royal Gazette on December 25 was the decree titled พระราชกฤษฎีกาตั้งอำเภอกัลยาณิวัฒนา จังหวัดเชียงใหม่ พ.ศ. ๒๕๕๒. The decree is divided into 5 sections.

• Section 1 just states that the decree is named "Decree on the creation of Galyani Vadhana district, Chiang Mai province, B.E. 2552"
• Section 2 states that the decree takes effect the day following its publication in the Royal Gazette.
• Section 3 states that the three subdistricts Chaem Luang, Ban Chan and Mae Daet are split off from Mae Chaem district and form the district Galyani Vadhana
• Section 4 states that the district office is to be located in Chaem Luang subdistrict, and is under the jurisdiction of Chiang Mai province.
• Section 5 states that the Minister of Interior to act in accordance with this Royal Decree.

District office construction for Galyani Vadhana district

Last week the Department of Provincial Administration (DOPA) issued another report on the ongoing creation of the 878th district Galyani Vadhana in Chiang Mai. While most part of the announcement is just the repetition of previously noted facts, like the name being bestowed by HM the King in July, and that the cabinet approved the creation in October. The new information is at the bottom

โดยในขณะนี้จังหวัดเชียงใหม่ ได้จัดเตรียมพื้นที่ในการก่อสร้างที่ว่าการอำเภอแห่งใหม่แล้ว บริเวณหมู่ที่ 2 ตำบลแจ่มหลวง อำเภอแม่แจ่ม จังหวัดเชียงใหม่ จำนวน 82 ไร่ 2 งาน 39 ตารางวา สำหรับที่ว่าการอำเภอชั่วคราวของอำเภอ กัลยาณิวัฒนา กำหนดให้ใช้อาคารของสภาตำบลบ้านจันทร์ หน่วยงานที่เกี่ยวข้องและหอประชุมใช้อาคารของ
ศูนย์ศิลปาชีพ ซึ่งตั้งอยู่ภายในบริเวณวัดบ้านจันทร์ หมู่ที่ 3 ตำบลบ้านจันทร์

Right now, the province Chiang Mai is preparing the area for the district office already. It will be in the area of village 2, subdistrict Chaem Luang, Mae Chaem district, Chiang Mai province and covers an area of 82 rai 2 ngam 39 tarangwa (132,156 m²). For temporary use the building of the Tambon Council Ban Chan and the auditorium of the Center of Arts, located within the temple compound of Wat Chan, in Village 3 of Ban Chan subdistrict.

Using the map on the website of TAO Chaem Luang the location of the new district office will be in the northernmost village of this subdistrict, close to the border to Ban Chan subdistrict. Sadly Google Earth/Maps has no high resolution imaginary of the whole area of the new district, but in the Thai clone PointAsia it shows. But for the exact location of the future district office I still have no idea.

New Chiang Mai district approved by cabinet

In yesterday's cabinet meeting the proposal of creating the new district Galyani Vadhana in Chiang Mai province was approved, so the Ministry of Interior can now continue to set up the new district. The date the district will officially come into existence is not given yet.

The short article of The Nation does not give as much background.

The Cabinet Tuesday approved the establishment of a new district in Chiang Mai to honour late Her Royal Highness Princess Galyani Vadhana.
The new district was named Galyani Vadhana to honour the princess.
The new district has 647.58 square kilometres of area and 10,561 populations.

With more than ten thousand populations it must be a quite crowded district, but thats obviously just broken grammar. That they omit the fact that the name was not chosen by cabinet made a blogger suspect a political angle by this name selection honoring a royal in the pro-Thaksin north of Thailand.

Therefore I list the whole text from the cabinet meeting transcript.

คณะรัฐมนตรีอนุมัติหลักการร่างพระราชกฤษฎีกาตั้งอำเภอกัลยาณิวัฒนา พ.ศ. .... ตามที่กระทรวง มหาดไทยเสนอ และให้ส่งสำนักงานคณะกรรมการกฤษฎีกาตรวจพิจารณา แล้วดำเนินการต่อไปได้
ข้อเท็จจริง
กระทรวงมหาดไทยเสนอว่า
1. คณะรัฐมนตรีได้มีมติ (2 ธันวาคม 2551) เห็นชอบในหลักการการจัดตั้งอำเภอวัดจันทร์เฉลิมพระเกียรติ ของจังหวัดเชียงใหม่ เป็นกรณีพิเศษ เพื่อเทิดพระเกียรติสมเด็จพระเจ้าพี่นางเธอ เจ้าฟ้ากัลยาณิวัฒนา กรมหลวงนราธิวาสราชนครินทร์ และให้กระทรวงมหาดไทยรับไปดำเนินการในรายละเอียดต่าง ๆ ตามขั้นตอนต่อไป
2. โดยที่ตำบลบ้านจันทร์ ตำบลแม่แดด และตำบลแจ่มหลวง อำเภอแม่แจ่ม จังหวัดเชียงใหม่ มีท้องที่กว้างขวาง มีชุมชนและชุมนุมการค้า มีสภาพเจริญขึ้น สมควรแยกตำบลดังกล่าวออกจากอำเภอแม่แจ่ม จังหวัดเชียงใหม่ และรวมตั้งขึ้นเป็นอำเภอกัลยาณิวัฒนา จังหวัดเชียงใหม่ ตั้งอยู่ทางทิศตะวันตกเฉียงเหนือของจังหวัดเชียงใหม่ สภาพพื้นที่โดยทั่วไปเป็นป่าและมีภูเขาสูงชันล้อมรอบ มีเนื้อที่ประมาณ 647.58 ตารางกิโลเมตร จำนวนประชากร 10,561 คน ซึ่งได้จัดเตรียมสถานที่ที่จะใช้ในการก่อสร้างที่ว่าการอำเภอ หอประชุม และบ้านพักข้าราชการไว้เรียบร้อยแล้ว
3. ได้ขอให้สำนักเลขาธิการคณะรัฐมนตรีนำความกราบบังคมทูลพระกรุณาขอพระราชทานชื่ออำเภอดังกล่าวแล้ว ซึ่งได้ทรงพระกรุณาโปรดเกล้าฯ พระราชทานชื่ออำเภอดังกล่าวว่า “อำเภอกัลยาณิวัฒนา” ตั้งแต่วันที่ 7 กรกฎาคม 2552
สาระสำคัญของร่างพระราชกฤษฎีกา
ให้แยกตำบลบ้านจันทร์ ตำบลแม่แดด และตำบลแจ่มหลวง ออกจากอำเภอแม่แจ่ม จังหวัดเชียงใหม่ รวมตั้งเป็นอำเภอกัลยาณิวัฒนา จังหวัดเชียงใหม่

The transcript mostly just lists the facts for the district creation:
1. that on December 2 2008 the cabinet gave the Ministry of Interior the go ahead to set up the district as a special case under the district creation rules since the normal criteria for a new district are not met.
2. that the three subdistricts Ban Chan, Mae Daet and Chaem Luang should be split off from Mae Chaem to form new district Galyani Vadhana. The new district is in the northwest of Chiang Mai province, mostly forests and hills, covering an area of 647.58 km² and a population of 10,561. Facilities to construct the district office and to house officials are already prepared.
3. HM the King has bestowed the name Galyani Vadhana on July 7
and then in one sentence states that the district creation is approved.

878th district to be named "Galyani Vadhana"

When I reported on the planned new district in Chiang Mai province, the name was still listed as "Wat Chan district" (อำเภอวัดจันทร์) in most sources, but the idea of naming it in honor of the Princess Galyani Vadhana, sister of HM the King and deceased January 2nd 2008 was already in discussion.

Today, in the news section of the website of the Department of Provincial Administration (DOPA) it has the first really official confirmation that the district is about to be created soon, and it now also has the name fixed. That news titled "อำเภอกัลยาณิวัฒนา อำเภอที่ 878 (Galyani Vadhana district, district number 878) states that on July 7 HM the King bestowed this name to the district to be established.

The article however does not say when the district will actually get created, but now the name is set it cannot take that long anymore. The case will be presented by the Ministry of Interior to the cabinet for discussion, and after approval the royal decree will be issued.

One thing I still need to know is what will be the recommended English spelling of this district. Galyani Vadhana is the spelling used normally for the Princess, however the geographical entities normally follow the RTGS transcription scheme, which then would be "Kanyani Watthana". The only other similar case, the district Vibhavadi in Surat Thani also named after a member of the Royal family, does not follow RTGS either, because it then would be spelled Wiphawadi. So my guess is the recommended spelling will be "Galyani Vadhana" just like the one used for the Princess herself.

New district in Chiang Mai to be established soon

When I looked through the RCode list I found four codes already assigned to minor disticts in Chiang Mai which were not yet created. At first I thought these are district once planned but than scrapped, but just to confirm I picked one of the names to Google to verify - and did the lucky pick because that one seems to be one which is about to created in the near future - though I haven't yet found any fixed date for the official creation.

The code 5026 is listed to belong to กิ่งอำเภอวัดจันทร์ (minor district Wat Chan), and is supposed to cover the subdistrict Ban Chan (ตำบลบ้านจันทร์), Mae Daet (ตำบลแม่แดด) and Chaem Luang (ตำบลแจ่มหลวง) of Mae Chaem district. The name seems to be not yet finalized, as I also find it as อำเภอวัดจันทร์เฉลิมพระเกียรติ (Wat Chan Chaloem Phra Kiat) or just อำเภอเฉลิมพระเกียรติ (Chaloem Phra Kiat). The latest of the news reports I found are from January this year, however the whole project has started quite long ago - Chiang Mai News had a report which lists the district history back till 1993.

Another news clipping suggests even more names - อำเภอกัลยาณิวัฒนา (Kanyani Watthana), อำเภอราชนครินทร์ (Rat Nokrin) or อำเภอกัลยาณมิตราจารย์ (Kanyani Mitrachan), all in honor of the Galyani Vadhana, the late sister of HM the King.

I am also not sure whether this new district will be created as a minor district (King Amphoe, กิ่งอำเภอ) like it is listed in the RCode list, or directly as a full district in line with the 2007 upgrade of all minor districts. Still quite a lot of questions and probably still a bit time to research before the creation get imminent, but now I am forewarned I doubt it will be same as for the last new district of Thailand which I only heard from about a year after it was created.

For a more entertaining link, On the road Wat Chan - Kun Chang Kian is a great photo album of views on the area which will make up the new district. And to give due credit, the map above is based on the new vector maps hdamm is creating for Wikipedia, replacing the more plain maps I created years ago.