Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Abolish of Saiburi province

When I wrote about the administrative history of Pattani I already mentioned shortly that till 1932 the deep south had an additional province named Saiburi (สายบุรี).

In the article Tradition and cultural background of the Patani region by Worawit Baru (วรวิทย์ บารู) alias Ahmad Idris (in: Regions and National Integration in Thailand, 1892-1992), the author starts to give a short historical background of the region. This ends with the following
After the transformation from absolute Monarchy to Democracy in 1932, Saiburi which used to be a cangwat was incorporated as an amphoe (district) into Cangwat Pattani (Nanthawan 1978:9).
This however is at best an overly simplification, or just wrong, because the province Saiburi wasn't changed into a district and placed into Pattani. In fact, since the administrative structure was established all over the country in about 1910, in every case an administrative entity was abolished this meant that the subdivision of the entity were reassigned to a new parent, and not that the entity was reduced in status. The only downward status change was district (amphoe) to minor district (king amphoe).

Thus in the case of Saiburi, the announcement from 1932 says
๗. ให้ยุบเลิกจังหวัดสายบุรี รวมท้องทีเข้าไว้ใน ปกครองของจังหวัดปัตตานี เว้นแต่ท้องที่อำเภอบาเจาะ ให้ยกไปขึ้นอยู่ในปกครองของจังหวัดนราธิวาส

To abolish the province Saiburi add area to govern by Pattani province except Bacho district, which is separated to be governed by Narathiwat province
Thus the southern half of the province, i.e. the district Bacho, came to Narathiwat, while the district Saiburi together with the minor district Kalapho (กิ่งอำเภอกะลาพอ) came to Pattani. As a minor district is a partial subordinate of a full district, counting Kalapho and Sai Buri as a single district is at least not totally wrong, but Bacho was definitely left out in the above statement.

I don't know whether the mistake was done by the author of the above paper, or already exists in the cited source (Nathawan Phusawong, ปัญหาของชาวไทยมุสลิมในสี่จังหวัดภาคใต้, Paper presented at The Social Sciences Association of Thailand, 1978) as I have no access to that one; but it can simply serve as an example that one always needs to check several sources, as even academic papers can contain mistakes.

In the map I have tried tried to give an idea of the extend of the province, note however that the boundaries are those as of today, so transfers of villages or subdistricts (though I am not aware of any) might have changed the boundary. It also only shows the extend at the abolishment, the districts Yi-ngo and Mueang Narathiwat were part of the province till about 1909. I also could not add the minor district Kalapho in the map - according to the Taluban municipality website the minor district became the subdistrict Tro Bon (same problem as above, it probably should say the minor district only comprised the subdistrict Tro Bon at its abolishment), and I only know the subdistrict Bue Re to be split off from Tro Bon - but since the minor district was in the northwestern corner it should at least also include the subdistricts Thung Khla, otherwise the boundary looks to strange. Sadly, the announcement on the abolishment of the Kalapho does not say anything about the subdistricts within the minor district.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Outstanding district officer award 2009

The Department of Provincial Administration (DOPA) announced last week the four winners of the Outstanding District Officer Awatd 2009, chosen from the twelve finalists made public in July. The awards will be handed over in a ceremony on December 1 - maybe will even show in DOPA TV.

The four winners are
  • North: Chokdi Omrawat (นายโชคดี อมรวัฒน์), district officer of Chai Prakan, Chiang Mai.
  • Central: Yutotna Nutnarot (นายยุทธนา นุชนารถ), district officer of Khok Sung, Sa Kaeo.
  • Northeast: Watthana Phutichat (นายวัฒนา พุฒิชาติ), district officer of Khemarat, Ubon Ratchathani.
  • South: Cholosak Wanitcharoen (นายชลอศักดิ์ วาณิชย์เจริญ), district officer of Mueang Surat Thani, Surat Thani.
Additionally, Somkiat Sisanet (นายสมเกียรติ ศรีษะเนตร), district officer of Krong Pinang district, Yala province, will be awarded as outstanding district officer of the southern boundary districts.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Most common Muban names

Doing some programming again, I did add a parser for the Excel sheets with the administrative villages I once found at the DOPA website. I mostly did it to be able to automatically compare the names in these sheets with those Muban lists I collect from the various TAO websites, in order to find mistakes in my XML files. But since I only have about 20,000 Muban in the XML out of the nearly 75,000 it has altogether, I now use the output of that parser to be the input for some nifty statistics on the Muban. However these sheets only include 71,939 Muban since those in city or town municipalities are omitted, so only those having village headmen are listed. And also to avoid the misunderstanding, these are the administrative villages, not the actual settlements.

The first result of this I am presenting now, the list of Muban names which are most common. It has 14 names occurring more than 100 times.
NameNumber
บ้านหนองบัวBan Nong Bua246
บ้านใหม่Ban Mai184
บ้านกลางBan Klang165
บ้านหนองแวงBan Nong Waeng155
บ้านไร่Ban Rai134
บ้านโนนสะอาดBan Non Sa-at129
บ้านโนนสมบูรณ์Ban Non Sombun127
บ้านโนนสวรรค์Ban Non Sawan123
บ้านหนองไผ่Ban Nong Phai123
บ้านโคกกลางBan Khok Klang111
บ้านโคกสะอาดBan Khok Sa-at111
บ้านหนองหว้าBan Nong Wa110
บ้านโนนสว่างBan Non Sawang110
So, the Lotus Pond wins over the new village and the central village. And if anyone still remembers the statistics I once did on the subdistrict names, Nong Bua is also the most common name in that administrative level.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Friday, September 25, 2009

New emblem of San Pu Loei

When I wrote about the emblem of the TAO San Pu Loei last year, I already mentioned that they need to change the emblem because it was just recently upgraded to a subdistrict municipality (เทศบาลตำบลสันปูเลย) then. The old emblem did feature the Thai letters อบต as the Thai abbreviation for Subdistrict Administrative Organization, thus wasn't applicable anymore for the subdistrict municipality.

Now the municipality has created a new website at the new URL www.sanpulei.go.th, it also includes an image of the new emblem, and though at a much smaller resolution than the TAO emblem I could create a vector graphic from it to finally update that old posting.

Sadly the website has no description of the emblem, so I don't know what is the meaning of the elements displayed in it, especially the central element which I think is supposed to be a diamond. But quite clearly one can see that this emblem also uses three calligraphic Thai letters, this time ส (So Suea), ป (Po Pla) and ล (Lo Ling) - the starting consonants in each syllable of San Pu Loei (สันปูเลย). So in case the municipality ever gets another upgrade they don't need to change the emblem itself, only the name written in the outer circle.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Bangkok districts in the 1910s

From a recent discussion in the 2bangkok forum, I now have a list of the district changes between 1915 and 1928 in modern-day Bangkok or at that time Thonburi and Phra Nakhon province. I am splitting the write-up into two parts, first the 1910s which feature the creation of 25 districts, and next week the second part with the consolidation into a smaller number.

Note that these lists might contradict with the list I compiled quite some time ago. I was confused by the fact that police province and administrative provinces use the same term "changwat" - and now it seems that the districts in that source are also police districts named "amphoe" same as the administrative ones. It's quite difficult to find the fitting announcements in the Royal Gazette, it seems the way of publishing these changes wasn't as standardized as it was since the 1950s.

Before 1915, there were 8 inner (อำเภอชั้นใน) and 8 out districts (อำเภอชั้นนอก), i.e. Phra Nakhon (พระนคร), Sampeng (สามเพ็ง), Dusit (ดุสิต), Bang Rak (บางรัก), Bangkok Noi (บางกอกน้อย), Sa Pratum Wan (สระประทุมวัน), Bangkok Yai (บางกอกใหญ่) and Banglamphu Lang (บางลำภูล่าง) as the inner; and Bang Kapi (บางกะปิ), Bang Sue (บางซื่อ), Bang Khen (บางเขน), Bang Khun Thian (บางขุนเทียน), Rat Burana (ราษฎร์บูรณะ), Taling Chan (ตลิ่งชัน), Phasi Charoen (ภาษีเจริญ), and Nong Khaem (หนองแขม) as the out district.

In 1915, the system of the inner districts was completely overhauled, as 25 new districts were created. Apparently there were no direct successors of the original districts, unlike later district creations where normally a new district is split off from a parent district. The Gazette announcements in this case however only lists the boundaries for all the 25 districts, not mentioning any of the precursor districts. The 25 districts were:
  • Phra Ratcha Wang (พระราชวัง), Chana Songkhram (ชนะสงคราม), Samran Rat (สำราญราษฎร์), Phahurat (พาหุรัด) now forming the district Phra Nakhon
  • Chakkrawat (จักรวรรดิ์) and Samphanthawong (สัมพันธวงษ์), now Samphanthawong
  • Sam Yaek (สามแยก), merged to Samphanthawong?
  • Sam Yot (สามยอด) and Pom Prap Sattru Phai (ป้อมปราบศัตรูพ่าย), now Pom Prap Sattru Phai
  • Nang Liang (นางเลิ้ง) and Bang Khun Phrom (บางขุนพรหม), merged in 1929, abolished in 1938
  • Sam Sen (สามเสน), merged to Dusit?
  • Dusit (ดุสิต)
  • Phaya Thai (พญาไท), abolished in 1929, recreated 1966
  • Prachae Chin (ประแจจีน), merged into Dusit?
  • Pathum Wan (ปทุมวัน)
  • Bang Rak (บางรัก)
  • Sathon (สาธร), abolished in 1929 and recreated in 1989
  • Ban Thawai (บ้านทวาย), now Yannawa
  • Bang Phlat (บางพลัด), abolished in 1938, recreated in 1989
  • Amarin (อมรินทร์), now Bangkok Noi
  • Hong Sa Ram (หงสาราม), now Bangkok Yai
  • Ratchakhrue (ราชคฤห์), now Thon Buri
  • Buppharam (บุปผาราม), now Khlong San
  • Buk Lo (บุคโล), 1938 merged into Thonburi
In 1916, four of the districts received new names, though actually two of the names were the old names from before 1915 (Gazette). In details, the name change were Amarin (อมรินทร์) to Bangkok Noi (บางกอกน้อย), Hongsaram (หงสาราม) to Bangkok Yai (บางกอกใหญ่), Ratchakhrue (ราชคฤห์) to Bang Yi Ruea (บางยี่เรือ), Buppharam (บุปผาราม) to Khlong San (คลองสาน).

To be continued...

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

New Bangkok subdistricts officially gazettered

Published on Monday were the announcements to create the new subdistricts in Bangkok, one announcement per district. Each of the announcement includes the description of the boundaries, as well as a map showing them.
  • Wang Thonglang district creating the new subdistricts Saphan Song (แขวงสะพานสอง), Khlong Chao Khun Sing (แขวงคลองเจ้าคุณสิงห์) and Phlapphla (แขวงพลับพลา) - Gazette
  • Don Mueang district creating the new subdistrict Sanam Bin (แขวงสนามบิน) and Don Mueang (แขวงดอนเมือง) - Gazette
  • Bueng Kum district creating the subdistricts Nuamin (แขวงนวมินทร์) and Nuan Chan (แขวงนวลจันทร์) - Gazette
  • Bang Sue districts creating the subdistrict Wong Sawang (แขวงวงศ์สว่าง) - Gazette
  • Khan Na Yao district creating the subdistrict Ram Intra (แขวงรามอินทรา) - Gazette
Additionally, in Bang Khae district (บางแค) the boundaries of the subdistricts were adjusted. (Gazette) I may write up a bit more details on this one later.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Outstanding registration offices award

Last week, the director-general of the Department of Provincial Administration (DOPA), Wongsak Sawatphanit (วงศ์ศักดิ์ สวัสดิ์พาณิชย์) announced the winners of the outstanding registration office award (รางวัลสำนักทะเบียนดีเด่น). If I read the announcement correctly, this award is given out since the year 1985, and is split into seven categories.
1 In the announcement misspelled as Ranong (ระนอง), which however neither is Thesaban Nakhon nor fits into the population range.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Chumchon and Muban

While adding some websites of the subdistrict administration organizations (TAO) and municipalities to my XMLs, when I can find a list of the administrative villages (Muban) within the subdistrict I also add it. Insofar the website of the TAO Ban Khok (บ้านโคก), Khok Pho Chai, Khon Kaen province is nothing special, it includes a list of 8 Muban, and lists separately those completely under the TAO and those partially administrated by the TAO and partially by the subdistrict municipality Ban Khok.
Muban completely in TAO
หมู่ที่ 4บ้านนายาวBan Nayao
หมู่ที่ 5บ้านโสกใหญ่Ban Sok Yai
หมู่ที่ 6บ้านโนนคูณBan Non Khun
หมู่ที่ 9บ้านหนองทุ่มBan Nong Thum
หมู่ที่ 10บ้านหนองชมภูBan Nong Chomphu
Muban shared by TAO and Thesaban
หมู่ที่ 2บ้านโสกนาดีBan Sok Na Di
หมู่ที่ 8บ้านโคกสง่าBan Khok Sanga
หมู่ที่ 11บ้านนาวิลัยBan Nawilai
As this list lacked those Muban completely within the municipality, I checked the website of the municipality as well. And this includes a list of all the communities (Chumchon) of the municipality.
หมู่ 1บ้านโคกBan Khokชุมชน 1บ้านโคกพัฒนาBan Khok Phatthana
หมู่ 2บ้านโสกนาดีBan Sok Na Diชุมชน 2โสกนาดีSok Na Di
หมู่ 3บ้านโคกBan Khokชุมชน 3รวมพลังRuam Phlang
หมู่ 7บ้านโคกBan Khokชุมชน 4โคกนคร 2000Khok Nakhon 2000
หมู่ 8บ้านโคกBan Khokชุมชน 5สามัคคีSamakkhi
หมู่ 11บ้านโสกนาดีBan Sok Na Diชุมชน 6นาวิลัยร่วมใจพัฒนาNa Wilai Ruam Chai Phatthana
While I had seen lists of the Chumchon before, this is the first one where it is clear that the Chumchon correspond one-to-one to the Muban. I don't know if this is the general rule that at the creation of a municipalities the Muban become Chumchon - only for the city and town municipality the Muban loose meaning completely, but for a subdistrict municipality there are still the village headmen even for the Muban completely within the municipality. As I know hardly anything about the Chumchon I can only wildly guess here.

What is a bit confusing is the fact that the two lists give different names for two of the Muban - village 8 is either Ban Khok or Ban Khok Sanga, and village 11 either Ban Sok Na Di or Ban Nawilai. The DOPA village name list for Khon Kaen gives Ban Khok for village 8 (as in municipality list) and Ban Nawilai for village 11 (as in TAO list).

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Friday, September 18, 2009

Mueang of Isan

I knew before that there were more of the Mueang than those which became the modern-day provinces, yet most of these were subordinate of more important and powerful Mueang. For several of the districts I read in the history that they were such subordinate Mueang in the past. But I not knew the numbers of these, as the only list of Muang I have found so far seems only to include those directly subordinate to Bangkok.

But at least for the northeast (Isan) I have now found the numbers, in the paper The Isan up to its integration into the Siamese state (in: Regions and National Integration in Thailand, 1892-1992) by Volker Grabowsky the author cites a Thai lnaguage source, according to which the numbers were as follows.
  • 1826 - 33
  • 1840 - 54
  • 1860 - 70
  • 1880 - 100
  • and no new Mueang after 1885
To compare, there are now 19 provinces with 321 districts, thus by far more Mueang than provinces, but on the other side by far not all of the districts can claim their history to go back to such an old entity.

The Thai source is a book titled "Prawattisat isan" (ประวัติศาสตร์อีสาน, History of Isan) by Toem Waphikphotcanakit (เติม วิภาคย์พจนกิจ) published in 1970. I though it'd take long till I could get my hand on this book, let alone be able to read it to into the base data for the above numbers. But then the fact I posted my Thailand books on LibraryThing helped. This had inspired Jakkrits from the Ethnowater blog to do the same. And when I just checked through his library I noticed that he has exactly that book in his collection, and he send me a scan of the relevant pages. Now I only need to find the time to work through that list.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Province governor reshuffle

In the cabinet meeting of September 15, the Thai government approved the annual province governor reshuffle list submitted by the Ministry of Interior. Like all normal reshuffles it will be effective October 1. A total of 48 positions, province governors as well as deputy governors, but also the director-general leading the Department of Provincial Administration, will change. Below I am listing those changes affecting the province governors, which is the majority of the changes. Hopefully I have translated the titles outside the provincial administration correctly. The romanization of the names is done by RTGS as I don't know the preferred spellings of the officers.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

QR Code image

QR Code
Some weeks ago I added that small two-dimensional barcode (QR code) image in the sidebar of this blog - just for fun as I found a software to read and create such barcodes to crack a small riddle on a private German blog. Mine only contains the URL of this blog, so it is of no use for anyone who finds it here, as then you know the URL already. And I doubt plastering it all over Bangkok like the BNE graffiti would really gain me new devoted readers.

So it's funny the webmaster of the subdistrict administrative organization (TAO) Lilet (องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบลลีเล็ด) in Phunphin district, Surat Thani, has placed a similar image on their website, and not surprisingly that one contains the link to their website - http://www.leeled.go.th.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Municipal decisions from July 15 2009

On July 15 again two board meetings with 24 TAO upgraded to municipalities, 12 by board one in morning, and another 12 by board two in the afternoon.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Finding authoritative district boundary maps

Fellow Wikipedian hdamm is currently creating vector maps for all the districts superseding the pixel maps I created years ago. While doing so he ran into similar cases of the contradicting maps like those I lamented about a year ago, most strikingly in Kalasin.

The first and most notable discrepancy between his and my maps resolved quite easily - in the district Kamalasai a quite large bulge in the eastern boundary showed up, which turned out to be the subdistrict Nong Paen. For whatever reason this subdistrict was not added to the minor district Khong Chai when it was created in 1997, yet my map source did show belonging to Khong Chai.

Much more tricky was the second one, an additional bulge in the southern boundary of Tha Kantho, to be exact some area of Nong Yai subdistrict, Nong Kung Si district being added to Kung Kao subdistrict. Half of the maps showed the bulge, the other half did not. For example the map at amphoe.com show the bulge, whereas Google Earth or a map from the provincial statistics office don't have it. Nothing in the Royal Gazette suggests a change in the boundary at that area - a recent boundary adjustment would be a nice explanation, but there apparently was none.

But finally the Gazette came to my rescue - an 2008 announcement declaring some part of Tha Kantho as land reform area includes a map delineating the boundary of the affected areas, and this includes the boundaries of districts and subdistricts. And there it shows the bulge, same as in the source hdamm used.
Actually this bulge makes a lot of sense geographically - when looking at the area in terrain mode one can see that the boundary roughly follows the boundary of the plateau, though mostly covered by forest.

And now I found this alternative and I believe authoritative source of maps I tried to check those two cases from last years posting, and it confirms the original map of Satun without the large part of Trang, whereas for Lopburi the district Lam Sonthi does not extend as far north as it does in some maps.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Municipal decisions from July 14 2009

A total of 33 TAO were upgraded in the two board meetings which took place on July 14 2009 - 21 by board 1 which convened in morning and another 12 by board 2 in afternoon.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Headmen salary increase now official

Back in February I reported on the planned salary increase for the subdistrict and village headmen, their assistants and the subdistrict doctor. I now discovered the publication in the Royal Gazette which officially announces the new salaries. It was published on September 10, and is titled "ระเบียบกระทรวงมหาดไทยว่าด้วยการเบิกจ่ายเงินตอบแทนตำแหน่ง และเงินอื่น ๆ ให้แก่กำนัน ผู้ใหญ่บ้าน แพทย์ประจำตำบล สารวัตรกำนัน ผู้ช่วยผู้ใหญ่บ้านฝ่ายปกครอง และผู้ช่วยผู้ใหญ่บ้านฝ่ายรักษาความสงบ (ฉบับที่ ๕) พ.ศ. ๒๕๕๒" (Ministry of Interior regulation on disclosure of payment for rank and other for subdistrict headmen, subdistrict doctor, assistant subdistrict headmen, village headmen, assistant village headmen - revision 5, B.E. 2552). The salary is increased in two steps, first on October 1 2009 and the second step on October 1 2010.

And since this announcement is revision 5, I also checked the older revisions and could use them to follow the salary for these posts since 2003. One can see the payment did rise quite significantly - more than a 100% rise in these 6 years. Compared with the inflation rate of around 4% annually this raise was way above inflation compensation.

Position20032004200620092010
Subdistrict headman฿ 3,500฿ 4,000฿ 5,000฿ 7,500฿ 10,000
Village headman฿ 2,500฿ 3,000฿ 4,000฿ 6,000฿ 8,000
Subdistrict doctor฿ 1,800฿ 2,000฿ 2,500฿ 3,750฿ 5,000
Deputy subdistrict headman฿ 1,800฿ 2,000฿ 2,500฿ 3,750฿ 5,000
Deputy village headman฿ 1,800฿ 2,000฿ 2,500฿ 3,750฿ 5,000

The 2003 announcement refers to an older regulation dated from 1989 as being the being invalidated by that act, however I failed to find that one or any other similar older ones in the Royal Gazette archive.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Municipal decisions from July 13 2009

On July 13 2009 there were again two board meetings, board 1 convened in morning and board 2 in afternoon. Altogether the upgrade of 24 TAO to subdistrict municipalities was decided.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Phuket PAO president cleared of vote-buying allegations

Phuket Gazette reported yesterday that Paiboon Upatising (ไพบูลย์ อุปัติศฤงค์), president of the Phuket provincial administrative organization (PAO) has been cleared of the vote-buying allegations which led to a yellow card issued by the Election Committee (EC) in March.

The decision by the Region 8 appeals court took a bit longer than in the case of Surat Thani PAO president Thani Thaugsuban, who received the yellow card in February. In Surat Thani, a new PAO president was elected already, and Thani stumbled upwards to replace his brother as Member of Parliament in the by-election on August 30.

On the website of the Phuket PAO, one can still read the statement of Paiboon written in March. I guess a new one will be posted there soon. By the way, this website is about the best one from any of the administrative entities I have come across so far - not overloaded with stuff and completely bilingual. I only miss the list of the past PAO presidents in the history section, and a RSS feed to easily follow the news on that site.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

TAO elections last Sunday

Last Sunday, September 6th, were local elections in many of the Tambon administrative organizations (TAO). Since it is impossible to report on all the results, at least the English newspapers have focused on the irregularities during the election, most prominently the vote-buying.

Bangkok Post writes
Poll cheats are suspected of spending more money than ever in the elections which were held in 2,959 tambons across 74 provinces.
[...]
In the lower southern province of Trang, two election canvassers were arrested with cash they allegedly were using to buy votes.
A few quotes from The Nation have the same tone
In constituencies witnessing a tight race, the bribes reportedly soared to Bt2,000 per vote.
Some candidates handed out pre-paid telephone cards in lieu of bills.
In Trang, Ban Khlong Then police rounded up independent candidate Thawee Phuagphet on suspicion of buying votes.
Confronted by evidence seized from his home, including Bt39,300 in cash and a list of voters, Thawee admitted he was preparing to distribute the funds in order to sway votes.
Something I noticed directly when reading the two articles is the fact that the two cite different numbers of TAO which held elections. From an earlier article by Bangkok Post
People across the country go to polling stations on Sunday to elect members of 2,959 tambon administrative organisations.
The polls, in which more than 117,000 people are vying for TAO seats and more than 6,400 people are running for TAO mayoral posts, are expected to be fierce in several areas.
However, The Nations says it were 2939 TAO which held election, and also mentions that both the council as well as the chairman were elected. One of the numbers must be wrong, and in fact while The Nation has the correct number, they also left out some details. A report on the website of the parliament gives the full data:
การเลือกตั้งท้องถิ่น ระดับองค์การบริหารส่วนตำบล (อบต.) ทั่วประเทศ 74 จังหวัด รวม 2,939 แห่ง แยกเป็นเฉพาะนายก อบต. 3 แห่ง สมาชิก อบต. (ส.อบต.) 249 แห่ง และนายก อบต. และสมาชิก อบต. 2,687 แห่ง เมื่อวันที่ 6 กันยายน
Thus, there were 2939 TAO which held an election on September 6 - in three TAO only the chairman (นายก) was elected, in 249 only the council (สมาชิก อบต.) and another 2687 TAO where both chairman and council were elected.

Some preliminary results of the TAO chairmen elections I could find at Matichon, but since none of the names of the local politicians will have any meaning to the English readers I'll spare you the attempt the translate that list. The more general results in an earlier report only mention the expected - in Surat Thani 73 of 81 winning TAO chairmen were supported by the Democratic party, and in Buriram the "friends of Newin" faction also made a sweeping win. BangkokPundit also has some analysis based on that Matichon article.

Monday, September 7, 2009

New subdistricts in Bangkok

Only through monitoring the edits on Wikipedia I became aware of the fact that in Bangkok the city administration created new subdistricts (Khwaeng, แขวง). Five subdistricts, each the sole subdistrict in the corresponding district, were split, effective August 3, raising the number of subdistricts from 160 to 169.
  • Wang Thonglang (แขวงวังทองหลาง), Wang Thonglang district split off the new subdistricts Saphan Song (แขวงสะพานสอง), Khlong Chao Khun Sing (แขวงคลองเจ้าคุณสิงห์) and Phlapphla (แขวงพลับพลา)
  • Don Mueang (แขวงดอนเมือง), Don Mueang district, split off the new subdistrict Sanam Bin (แขวงสนามบิน)
  • Bueng Kum (แขวงบึงกุ่ม), Bueng Kum district split off the subdistricts Nuamin (แขวงนวมินทร์) and Nuan Chan (แขวงนวลจันทร์)
  • Bang Sue (แขวงบางซื่อ), Bang Sue districts split off the subdistrict Wong Sawang (แขวงวงศ์สว่าง)
  • Khan Na Yao (แขวงคันนายาว), Khan Na Yao district split off the subdistrict Ram Intra (แขวงรามอินทรา)

I tried to find some more background on these new subdistricts, but wasn't able to find much. Prachachat gives the approximate boundaries of the new subdistricts, whereas from a Thai blog posting I could extract the date of being effective to be August 3. And finally, the report in Naewna suggest that till next year all of the districts with a single subdistrict will have new subdistricts., which means the seven districts Phra Khanong, Phaya Thai, Din Daeng, Suan Luang, Saphan Sung, Bang Na, Bang Bon.

The population of Bangkok's subdistricts varies greatly, the lowest is 2392 (Chana Songkhram, Phra Nakhon), and the median value is about 35000. Yet 10 out of the 160 subdistricts have even more than 100,000 citizen.
PopulationKhwaengKhet
164570Si KanDon Mueang
147466Khlong KumBueng Kum
145671Bang SueBang Sue
139322Din DaengDin Daeng
116067Suan LuangSuan Luang
115685Wang ThonglangWang Thonglang
102963Bang BonThawi Watthana
102122Samae DamBang Khun Thian
100474Bang NaBang Na
100377AnusaoriBang Khen
In italics are those subdistricts already split now.

Now I wait for the announcement in the Royal Gazette, the last ones were announced in December 2003, just three days after the creation became effective. And also for the geocodes for those cases where it has more than one new subdistrict in one district, so far the CCAATT list from DOPA has not been updated.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Municipal decisions from July 3 2009

Meeting number 23 of board 1 from July 3 2009 with 24 TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.
  • Dan Sai, Dan Sai district, Loei province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Si Song Rak (เทศบาลตำบลศรีสองรัก), to avoid confusion with the municipality Dan Sai (เทศบาลตำบลด่านซ้าย). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 118.5 km², 14 villages and 4,480 citizen.
  • Khamcha-i, Khamcha-i district, Mukdahan province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Mueang Kamcha-i (เทศบาลตำบลเมืองคำชะอี), to avoid confusion with the municipality Khamcha-i (เทศบาลตำบลคำชะอี). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 240 km², 14 villages and 7,624 citizen.
  • Tha Kat, Mae Tha district, Lamphun province, effective on July 30 2009, upgraded and renamed to Tha Kat Nuea (เทศบาลตำบลทากาศเหนือ), to avoid confusion with the municipality Tha Kat (เทศบาลตำบลทากาศ). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 183 km², 13 villages and 5,123 citizen.
  • Laem Ngop, Laem Ngop district, Trat province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Tha Kat Nuea (เทศบาลตำบลแหลมงอบ), to avoid confusion with the municipality Laem Ngop (เทศบาลตำบลแหลมงอบ). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 25 km², 7 villages and 3,575 citizen.
  • Sapphaya, Sapphaya district, Chainat province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Chao Phraya (เทศบาลตำบลเจ้าพระยา), to avoid confusion with the municipality Sapphaya (เทศบาลตำบลสรรพยา). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 25 km², 7 villages and 3,575 citizen.
  • Ban Laem, Bang Pla Ma district, Suphanburi province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Ban Laem Phatthana (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านแหลมพัฒนา), to avoid confusion with the municipality Ban Laem (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านแหลม). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 780 km², 4 villages and 3,302 citizen.
  • Non Na Chan (เทศบาลตำบลโนนนาจาน), Na Khu district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 42 km², 9 villages and 4,717 citizen.
  • Som Sa-at (เทศบาลตำบลสมสะอาด), Kuchinarai district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 16.12 km², 7 villages and 4,322 citizen.
  • Na Ko (เทศบาลตำบลนาโก), Kuchinarai district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 47 km², 9 villages and 4,760 citizen.
  • Lat Khwang (เทศบาลตำบลลาดขวาง), Ban Pho district, Chachoengsao province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 9.17 km², 4 villages and 2,725 citizen.
  • Ban Kho (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านค้อ), Non Sang district, Nong Bua Lamphu province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 65 km², 10 villages and 5,072 citizen.
  • Ta Pha Mok (เทศบาลตำบลต้าผามอก), Long district, Phrae province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 400 km², 8 villages and 4,698 citizen.
  • Pratu Pa (เทศบาลตำบลประตูป่า), Mueang Lamphun district, Lamphun province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 12.25 km², 9 villages and 5,742 citizen.
  • Si Sa Ket (เทศบาลตำบลศรีษะเกษ), Na Noi district, Nan province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 287.12 km², 14 villages and 7,270 citizen.
  • Dong Mada (เทศบาลตำบลดงมะดะ), Mae Lao district, Chiang Rai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 60 km², 15 villages and 7,615 citizen.
  • Nong Lat (เทศบาลตำบลหนองลาด), Waritchaphum district, Sakon Nakhon province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 37.50 km², 11 villages and 7,436 citizen.
  • Rim Nuea (เทศบาลตำบลริมเหนือ), Mae Rim district, Chiang Mai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 5.07 km², 5 villages and 3,336 citizen.
  • Thung Tom (เทศบาลตำบลทุ่งต้อม), San Pa Tong district, Chiang Mai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 12.44 km², 10 villages and 5,655 citizen.
  • Han Kaeo (เทศบาลตำบลหารแก้ว), Hang Dong district, Chiang Mai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 10.40 km², 9 villages and 5,830 citizen.
  • Lak Liam (เทศบาลตำบลหลักเหลี่ยม), Na Mon district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 46 km², 10 villages and 5,919 citizen.
  • Dong Sombun (เทศบาลตำบลดงสมบูรณ์), Tha Khantho district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 53.76 km², 9 villages and 4,587 citizen.
  • Khok Yang (เทศบาลตำบลโคกย่าง), Prakhon Chai district, Buriram province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 31.46 km², 9 villages and 4,283 citizen.
  • Nong Trakhrong (เทศบาลตำบลหนองตะครอง), Lahan Sai district, Buriram province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 41.90 km², 12 villages and 8,148 citizen.
  • Don Khamin (เทศบาลตำบลดอนขมิ้น), Tha Makha district, Kanchanaburi province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 7 km², 6 villages and 4,311 citizen.
Additionally, the issue of Phai, Mueang Kalasin district, Kalasin province, was moved to meeting 32.

Friday, September 4, 2009

FIPS 10-3 and 10-4 codes for Thai provinces

When I noticed that the codes for the provinces used by the National Statistical Office (NSO) in the census 2000 are in fact identical with the FIPS 10-4 codes, I did a fresh look at these codes. I had mentioned them in my overlook on the various code systems used for the Thai administrative entities.

Eric Muller notified me on one peculiarity of the FIPS codes for the Thai provinces - unlike almost all other countries the codes are assigned in the alphabetical order of the romanized name.

I haven't been able to find any sources which give a rationale for the coding scheme used, from the original codes used in FIPS 10-3 it seems a geographical ordering was used. The codes start with Mae Hong Son (TH01) in the northwestern corner, then continue through the northern provinces, then the northeast, central, east and finally southern provinces, ending with Yala (TH-70) as the southernmost province. But then there are the codes 71 and 72 for Ubon Ratchathani and Yasothon out of the order, and Narathiwat being placed in between the northeastern and central provinces as TH31.

Also interesting is the fact that the province Mukdahan, which was created in 1982, was not included in the original codes, only with the change from revision 10-3 to 10-4 in 1997, together with the three other provinces created in 1992. As FIPS 10-3 dates from 1984, this change might not have propagated into the sources used for creation of these codes by then, and none of the minor changes of the 10-3 codes catched it.

As it was custom in the FIPS coding scheme, with the split of a entity both the new entity as well as the modified one both get new codes assigned. There the change to FIPS 10-4 had the following code changes
TH21TH73Nakhon Phanom
TH78Mukdahan
TH45TH74Prachinburi
TH80Sa Kaeo
TH71TH75Ubon Ratchathani
TH77Amnat Charoen
TH19TH76Udon Thani
TH79Nong Bua Lamphu
Now going into speculation mode, maybe the fact that Ubon Ratchathani and Yasothon were placed at the end derives from the fact these two were split in 1972. Maybe there was a code list predating these FIPS 10-3 codes where Ubon Ratchathani had the TH31, and to prevent a renumbering of all the following codes after the split the two were placed at the end, and Narathiwat instead moved into the hole. But only an insider of the committees responsible for maintaining the FIPS 10 codes could shed a light on this oddity. And sadly none of the older FIPS codes beyond the 10-3 are available online, the best I could find was a list of changes to the country codes from the statoids website. It's odd that Google Books or similar don't have these Public Domain texts scanned yet.

But anyway the whole thing is like beating a dead horse - the FIPS codes are no longer maintained and the move to the ISO 3166 codes is recommended.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Municipal decisions from July 1 2009

Meeting number 22 of board 1 from July 1 2009 with 13 TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.
  • Khok Samran (เทศบาลตำบลโคกสำราญ), Loeng Nok Tha district, Yasothon province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 85 km², 15 villages and 10,309 citizen.
  • Nong Ya Sai (เทศบาลตำบลหนองหญ้าไซ), Wang Sam Mo district, Udon Thani province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 56.65 km², 9 villages and 7,632 citizen.
  • Nong Kung Thap Ma (เทศบาลตำบลหนองกุงทับม้า), Wang Sam Mo district, Udon Thani province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 143 km², 11 villages and 7,777 citizen.
  • Tha Thung Luang (เทศบาลตำบลทาทุ่งหลวง), Mae Tha district, Lamphun province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 32 km², 6 villages and 3,936 citizen.
  • Nong I But (เทศบาลตำบลหนองอีบุตร), Huai Phueng district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 36.63 km², 8 villages and 4,924 citizen.
  • Chaiyamontri (เทศบาลตำบลไชยมนตรี), Mueang Nakhon Si Thammarat district, Nakhon Si Thammarat province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 24.04 km², 5 villages and 6,407 citizen.
  • Ban Chian (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านเชี่ยน), Hankha district, Chainat province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 82 km², 12 villages and 8,979 citizen.
  • Hua Taphan, Hua Taphan district, Amnat Charoen province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Rattanawari - Si Charoen (เทศบาลตำบลรัตนวารี-ศรีเจริญ), to avoid confusion with the municipality Hua Taphan (เทศบาลตำบลหัวตะพาน). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 48.02 km², 16 villages and 4,394 citizen.
  • Amnat, Lue Amnat district, Amnat Charoen province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Sam Nong (เทศบาลตำบลสามหนอง), to avoid confusion with the municipality Amnat (เทศบาลตำบลอำนาจ). The TAO was created in 1996, covers 23.22 km², 6 villages and 2,768 citizen.
  • Saeng Sawang, Nong Saeng district, Udon Thani province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Tho Saeng Sawang (เทศบาลตำบลทอแสงสว่าง), to avoid confusion with the municipality Saeng Sawang (เทศบาลตำบลแสงสว่าง). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 118 km², 4 villages and 3,481 citizen.
  • Mae Suai, Mae Suai district, Chiang Rai province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Wiang Suai (เทศบาลตำบลเวียงสรวย), to avoid confusion with the municipality Mae Suai (เทศบาลตำบลแม่สรวย). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 150.5 km², 15 villages and 7,554 citizen.
  • Sai Ngam, Sai Ngam district, Kamphaeng Phet province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Sai Ngam Ong In (เทศบาลตำบลไทรงามองค์อินทร์), to avoid confusion with the municipality Sai Ngam (เทศบาลตำบลไทรงาม). The TAO was created in 1997, covers 72.86 km², 8 villages and 3,940 citizen.
  • Kut Bak, Kut Bak district, Sakon Nakhon province, effective on July 31 2009, upgraded and renamed to Kut Haet (เทศบาลตำบลกุดแฮด), to avoid confusion with the municipality Kut Bak (เทศบาลตำบลกุดบาก). The TAO was created in 1996, covers 135 km², 8 villages and 5,910 citizen.

Meeting number 22 from July 1 2009 with 12 TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.
  • Santi Suk (เทศบาลตำบลสันติสุข), Doi Lo district, Chiang Mai province, effective July 29 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 90 km², 9 villages and 3,948 citizen.
  • Yang Khram (เทศบาลตำบลยางคราม), Doi Lo district, Chiang Mai province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 78 km², 11 villages and 5,151 citizen.
  • Tha Wang Tan (เทศบาลตำบลท่าวังตาล), Saraphi district, Chiang Mai province, effective August 1 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 13.63 km², 13 villages and 9,573 citizen.
  • Bang Sai Yai (เทศบาลตำบลบางทรายใหญ่), Mueang Mukdahan district, Mukdahan province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 48 km², 13 villages and 8,380 citizen.
  • Ban Bak (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านบาก), Don Tan district, Mukdahan province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 87 km², 7 villages and 5,417 citizen.
  • Phon Ngam (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านบาก), Khamcha-i district, Mukdahan province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 57 km², 10 villages and 5,203 citizen.
  • Chedi (เทศบาลตำบลเจดีย์), U-Thong district, Suphanburi province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 20.90 km², 8 villages and 3,055 citizen.
  • Lam Sin (เทศบาลตำบลลำสินธุ์), Srinagarindra district, Phatthalung province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 49 km², 9 villages and 5,710 citizen.
  • Thung Noi (เทศบาลตำบลทุ่งน้อย), Pho Thale district, Phichit province, effective July 30 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 28.47 km², 7 villages and 3,708 citizen.
  • Yang Yai (เทศบาลตำบลยางใหญ่), Nam Yuen district, Ubon Ratchathani province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 62.85 km², 12 villages and 6,063 citizen.
  • Nong Luang (เทศบาลตำบลหนองหลวง), Sawang Daen Din district, Sakon Nakhon province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 46 km², 12 villages and 7,992 citizen.
  • Saeng Badan (เทศบาลตำบลแซงบาดาล), Somdet district, Kalasin province, effective July 31 2009. The TAO was created in 1997, covers 103 km², 15 villages and 7,553 citizen.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Municipality with its own magazine

The amount of public relation work done by the various local government entities varies a great deal. While several especially in the poorer Northeast don't even have a website, I've now come across one municipality which even publishes a quarterly magazine, covering 36 pages.

Simply named สำโรงใต้ (Samrong Tai) same as the municipality in Phra Pradaeng district, Samut Prakan province, several past issues are available as (scanned) PDF files from the website of the municipality. As it is only scans, the PDF is of course a bit bigger (3 MB for the January 2009 issue), and especially for someone not being able to read Thai yet any copy-and-paste of the text into Google Translate or Thai2English is impossible.

The magazine is already in its 11th year of publishing, thus it was started shortly after the sanitary district Samrong Tai was upgraded to a subdistrict municipality in 1997 (Gazette).

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Decentralization problems

Today I noticed an article from The Nation of last week titled 'Irreconcilable' powers holding on a seminar held in Bangkok on August 26. While it has no details on this seminar, the article gives some interesting quotes from participants on the state of decentralization in Thailand.

Overall, the comments collected in the article are quite negative, all having failures in the decentralization of the late 1990s which led to the creation of the Tambon administrative organizations (TAO) and increased powers to the Provincial Administrative organizations (PAO).

According to Nakharin Mektrairat (นครินทร์ เมฆไตรรัตน์)
The existing system had been established on "an old school of thought", which does not correspond with the rapid expansion and development of today's urban communities, he said.

Searching for some more information on Nakharin, I found one of his papers in English in a Japanese symposium transcript. I have only scanned the document so far and have to read in in detail. It's a pity he did not publish much in English.

Another interesting quote is from Prakaipharb Chaum (ประกายภาพ ชะอุ่ม) from the Saen Suk municipality (เทศบาลเมืองแสนสุข) in Chonburi.
[...] said local bodies were linked to national politics through the longstanding patronage system. "Budgets have been allocated to local levels by national politicians through favouritism."