Town twinning

Town twinning or sister cities are two names for official friendships between cities is a concept popular in Europe for many years, especially after Second World War to overcome the misunderstandings. Even though it is called sister cities, also other administrative entities might develop such official friendship ties, like the Kreise (districts) in Germany. Such twinning seems this has lately become popular in Thailand as well, as someone had added a few such relationships to the Wikipedia articles. However it seems the confusion of having different entities with the same name is also seen in this attempt. According to Wikipedia, Chiang Mai Province has twinning ties with Shanghai and Yogyakarta, and Khon Kaen with Nanning. But I wonder if it is really the province which has been twinned, or the municipality with the same name.

According to the Chinese newspaper People's Daily, Shanghai has signed the twinning with the city of Chiang Mai, however the twinning was signed by Pravit Sihsobhon, the governor of the province. If the twinning is with the city, one would expect the city mayor to sign the agreement. For the twinning with Yogyakarta, the report of Chiang Mai Mail confirms it's the province with is twinned with the Indonesian province. A list of official friendships between China and Thailand only adds the province for Chiang Rai, for the other ones it is not clear if its the town or the province.

• Beijing - Bangkok
• Shanghai - Chiang Mai
• Yuannan - Chiang Rai Province
• Henan Province - Chon Bury
• Kunming - Chiang Mai,
• Yantai - Phuket
• Nanning - Khon Kaen

The two-parts article Twinning in Thailand (An effective municipal partnership and Fredericton and Ubon Ratchathani) from the Canadian magazine Municipal World not only gives some insights in the twinning itself, but also explains the central and local administration system of Thailand in some details.

But can someone maybe supply me with a complete lists of friendships and twinnings between Thai entities and those of other countries? I could not find any in English yet, and one in Thai would not fall the confusion between town and province. I'd be especially curious if there'd be any such relationships between Thailand and Germany, with Google I failed to find any.

TAO upgrades to municipalities

In the last two month the upgrade of 200 TAO to municipalities was decided, so even in just this short time nearly twice the number of the whole fiscal year 2007. And even in 2007 it was an extraordinary high number of upgrades, the years before it was always less than 10. After thinking about this, I remembered that the TAO were all created in four batches in 1995 to 1999. Thus last year the 1995 creations had their 12th anniversary, this year it's the 1996 creations. Thus with a 4 years term for the TAO council, this year the TAO created in 1996 have to held elections anyway, thus it would be more economically to do the municipality upgrade at the end of the TAO term, as after the upgrade a new election needs to be done anyway. While this does not explain way so many TAO become eligible for the upgrade now, at least it explains why so many upgrade in this two years. If my guessing is right, it'd mean that 2009 will see even more upgrades, as 1997 was the year with the biggest number of TAO establishments.

Or is the big number of upgrades related with the drop of the population density requirement? At the time I researched for the thesaban article on Wikipedia, I found a reference that for a subdistrict municipality a population density of 1,500 per km² is mandatory - not only most of sanitary district upgraded in 1999 did not match this, but also almost all the TAO upgraded now neither. But I have no idea when (and if) this requirement was actually dropped.

In Nakhon Ratchasima province it now has more than 70 municipalities, which now makes the geocode system mentioned earlier impossible. As the province already has 32 districts, now the municipality geocodes descending from 3099 and the district codes starting from 3001 must overlap already. And there even was at least one code in between (3049) used for a Sakha Tambon. So for the municipalities they have to change the way the geocodes get assigned. I have no idea if or how this was or will be done, I haven't found much about the codes for the municipalities on the web so far, even trying my luck with googeling Thai terms.

Book excerpt - A description of the Kingdom of Siam 1690

In 1690 the German physicist Engelbert Kaempfer made a visit to Ayutthaya on his way to Japan. About his travel he wrote a book, which however wasn't published during his lifetime. After his death in 1716 the Latin text was translated into English and published in 1727. The first part of this book covering the time in Siam is published separately under the title A description of the Kingdom of Siam, 1690. The section fitting to the topic of the blog from chapter II is as follows.

The Kingdom of Siam is by the Natives called Muan Thai, which is as much as to say, the Land Thai. In their books it is sounded with this Epithet, Krom Thep Pramma haa Ikoon, (Circuitus visitationis Deorum) the Cirtcuit of the Visitations of the Gods. The Malagans and Peguans call it Tziam, from whence comes the European name Siam. Its Northern Latitude about the middle of it, or where the Capital City is situated, is fourteen degrees eighteen minutes, and its Longitude according to the common Maps 138, but according to the late Observations of the Jesuits 120 degrees. Eastward it borders upon the Kingdoms Tunkin, Cosynsina and Cambodia; on the South it is limited by the Sea, and the Counrties of Malacca, of which the King of Siam possesses Ligoor, Tanasseri, and some other small Provinces. On the West if the Kingdom of Pegu, and on the North that of Laos. Considering its extend it is but indifferently peopled being best inhabited only along the banks of the Rivers. [...] This Kingdom contains twelve large provinces, each of which is govern'd by an Oja, or Prince, as the King's Lieutenant, who hath several Opera's, or subaltern Officers under him. Besides there is an Oja at Court for every Province, who manages its Concerns, and keeps a watchful Eye over the Lieutenant's conduct. The late King had added a thirteenth Province to the aforesaid twelve, which he conquer'd from the Kingdom of Laos, and in all probability he would have conquer'd more, if the swelling of a large River had not put a stop to his progress. But a few years after that Province was taken from him again, so that all the benefit of an expedition undertaken in so remoate a Country, and with so much expence, was only the creating of Jealousy between the two Nations, which ruin'd the former trade between them, and remov'd it to Cambodia.

I did not know before that the name Thailand (Mueang Thai) is in fact much older, and wasn't just created in the 1930s when the name of the country was officially changed from Siam to Thailand. Its a bit sad that the author did not name the 12 or 13 provinces, or those of the Malay kingdoms and provinces under Siam.

Municipal decisions from May 16

Meeting number 36 from May 16 2008 with 11 TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.

• Ho Krai (เทศบาลตำบลหอไกร), Bang Mun Nak district, Phichit province, effective July 17 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 60.76 km², 9 villages and 6,295 citizen.
• Nong Phayom (เทศบาลตำบลหนองพยอม), Bang Mun Nak district, Phichit province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 67.40 km², 11 villages and 7,174 citizen.
• San Na Meng (เทศบาลตำบลสันนาเม็ง), San Sai district, Chiang Mai province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 8.95 km², 12 villages and 8,523 citizen.
• San Phranet (เทศบาลตำบลสันพระเนตร), San Sai district, Chiang Mai province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 7 km², 6 villages and 5,030 citizen.
• Sala (เทศบาลตำบลศาลา), Ko Kha district, Lampang province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 19.50 km², 4 villages and 5,460 citizen.
• Wang Phoem (เทศบาลตำบลวังเพิ่ม), Si Chomphu district, Khon Kaen province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 34.20 km², 14 villages and 7,553 citizen.
• Nong Nam Sai (เทศบาลตำบลหนองน้ำใส), Sikhio district, Nakhon Ratchasima province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 101 km², 18 villages and 12,443 citizen.
• Khao Kaeo Si Sombun (เทศบาลตำบลเขาแก้วศรีสมบูรณ์), Thung Saliam district, Sukhothai province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 48.13 km², 11 villages and 8,065 citizen.
• Ban Tom (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านต๋อม), Mueang Phayao district, Phayao province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 56.94 km², 18 villages and 12,955 citizen.
• Khok Ma (เทศบาลตำบลโคกม้า), Prakhon Chai district, Buriram province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 38.25 km², 9 villages and 7,198 citizen.
• Budi (เทศบาลตำบลบุดี), Mueang Yala district, Yala province, effective July 25 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 34.30 km², 8 villages and 9,794 citizen.

Municipal elections in Ko Samui

Since Ko Samui has been upgraded to higher municipal level, it now has to hold an election to appoint the members of the town council as well as the new mayor. Though I cannot find the actual numbers now, I remember to have read that the number of council members depends on the municipal level, so now after the municipal upgrade the constituencies must get adjusted accordingly.

I have borrowed the photo from the Japanese blog Soma Samui. While it was intended to show the bicycle rental shop to the left, it also quite prominently shows the election poster of former subdistrict municipality mayor Varakorn Rattanarak (วรากรณ์ รัตนรักษ์), one of the candidates for the new town mayor post. Strangely, this poster now shows again the word "Thesaban Nakhon" (เทศบาลนคร meaning city municipality), while as reported earlier apparently the initial decision to make it a city was revoked and the town status (thesaban mueang) was granted instead.

The newspaper Samui Express gives some background on the preparations for the election in the article Samui election heating up. According to that article the election will take place in "this month" (strange way to formulate in an article from July 21, why not state the planned date; anyway July is over already now) but may be delayed to September.

Municipal decisions for May 14 2008

The Legal Affairs Bureau has uploaded several new transcripts of the meetings, the new ones are the meetings from May 18 till July 25, a total of 21 files I have to work through and digest the relevant municipal changes. A quick overview over these documents showed that there were no less then 203 TAO being upgraded, so nearly double the 114 created in whole last fiscal year. Really lucky I have the TAO list complete so I can much easier process them. Anyway, expect a lot of postings like the one below in the next weeks, it'll take me some time to sort out that lot of changes. I just hope it won't have announcements in the Royal Gazette to report now or any important other new developments, otherwise I may have to publish more than one posting a day...

Meeting number 34 from May 14 2008 with 14 TAO upgraded to subdistrict municipalities.

• Tha Khon Yang (เทศบาลตำบลท่าขอนยาง), Kantharawichai district, Maha Sarakham province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 38 km², 15 villages and 8,287 citizen.
• Kham Riang (เทศบาลตำบลขามเรียง), Kantharawichai district, Maha Sarakham province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 48.05 km², 23 villages and 11,788 citizen.
• Khwao (เทศบาลตำบลขวาว), Selaphum district, Roi Et province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 39.95 km², 16 villages and 9,320 citizen.
• Mueang Phrai (เทศบาลตำบลเมืองไพร), Selaphum district, Roi Et province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 40.60 km², 14 villages and 6,898 citizen.
• Nong Phue (เทศบาลตำบลหนองผือ), Khemarat district, Ubon Ratchathani province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 46.85 km², 14 villages and 9,296 citizen.
• Na Chan (เทศบาลตำบลนาจาน), Si Chomphu district, Khon Kaen province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 77 km², 15 villages and 10,072 citizen.
• Rang Ka Yai (เทศบาลตำบลรังกาใหญ่), Si Chomphu district, Khon Kaen province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 74.34 km², 20 villages and 14,720 citizen.
• Na An (เทศบาลตำบลนาอาน), Mueang Loei district, Loei province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 58.80 km², 12 villages and 11,493 citizen.
• Ban Song (เทศบาลตำบลบ้านซ่อง), Mueang Loei district, Loei province, effective July 25 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 68.89 km², 14 villages and 10,006 citizen.
• Ko Taeo (เทศบาลตำบลเกาะแต้ว), Mueang Songkhla district, Songkhla province, effective July 25 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 28.38 km², 10 villages and 10,596 citizen.
• Kwian Hak (เทศบาลตำบลเกวียนหัก), Ban Bueng district, Chanthaburi province, effective July 25 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 41.52 km², 10 villages and 4,452 citizen.
• Tha Chang (เทศบาลตำบลท่าช้าง), Wiset Chai Chan district, Ang Thong province, effective August 1 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 23.79 km², 9 villages and 5,048 citizen.
• Khok Sa-at (เทศบาลตำบลโคกสะอาด), Nong Bua Rawe district, Chaiyaphum province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 147.78 km², 9 villages and 5,566 citizen.
• Hua Na Kham (เทศบาลตำบลหัวนาคำ), Yang Talat district, Kalasin province, effective July 18 2008. The TAO was created in 1996, covers 83 km², 19 villages and 13,009 citizen.

Provincial Courts

When I earlier talked about the provincial halls, I also mentioned the provincial courts (ศาลจังหวัด, San Changwat) which are often located right next to the provincial hall, for example in Surat Thani (depicted). Yet when I passed through Talat Chaiya municipality, to my surprise I saw a provincial court there as well, named ศาลจังหวัดไชยา (San Changwat Chaiya). Though it is a provincial court, this does of course not mean that there is a province Chaiya, it's just that the province Surat Thani is so large that it is divided into several judiciary areas each having its own provincial court. As the website of the Office of the Judiciary explains

Provincial Courts exercise unlimited original jurisdiction in all general civil and criminal matters within their own districts which are generally the provinces themselves. For the purpose of expansion of services of the court to the distance area, some provinces may have more than one Provincial Court.

It seems that even myself fell into the trap of thinking the provincial court has something to do with provinces - in one of the first postings I speculated on a recreation of the province Lang Suan, but in fact that Royal Gazette announcement was about the provincial court in Lang Suan, and had nothing to do with a province hall as I suspected.

Within Surat Thani, my favourite province, it seems there are three provincial courts, one in Surat Thani city itself, one in Chaiya, and one on Ko Samui. But I haven't yet found a complete list of all the provincial (and municipal) courts with my limited Thai.