What role does a village head have? How much power to they have?

[LawrenceN]

 

On 12/13/2021 at 12:56 PM, CharlieH said:

The last thing you want to do is upset that guy !

You are moving into a new area that woukd be very unwise in my opinion.

 

To be clear, are you talking "Pu yai" for your soi/area, or "Gamnant" for your village ?

To be clear? You got the areas wrong. Each village has one pu yai ban. The gamnan is over the tambol (sub-district), which might have many villages. 

[CharlieH]

20 minutes ago, LawrenceN said:

 

To be clear? You got the areas wrong. Each village has one pu yai ban. The gamnan is over the tambol (sub-district), which might have many villages. 

Not my experience and certainly  not here.

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

You've been told wrong. PhuYai Baans just adminster their MooBaan. Kamnans have their faces further up the trough at the Tambon level. One of the PhuYai Baans is chosen by the others to be the Kamnan.

 

 

 

[Wongkitlo]

Dragging up an old post. Does anybody know if the village head can adjudicate a business dispute? The problem has not arisen yet but it has been threatened.  It is  on a small island and there is no court - only the police force who sit around doing not much. 

[Kwasaki]

Depends what disput is. 

Maybe help but cannot have power of a court.

 

[Crossy]

Yeah ^^^, his usual job is to mediate local disputes and thus avoid things going further up the legal tree.

 

Much depends upon the nature of the dispute.

 

It certainly cannot hurt to ask him if he can mediate.

[Will B Good]

On 12/13/2021 at 6:06 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

As far as I see there is a huge difference between his official rights and his power and position.

 

I.e. my gf told me about a drug dealer in her village who was not only a drug dealer but also otherwise a bad person. I asked her why people didn't report him to the police. Her answer was: He is the son of the village head.

 

And that is/was end of the discussion. Like: Don't mess with the village head - even if there would be good legal reasons to do that. After all, TiT.

The guy next door to us, a civilian, runs the drug distribution network for the local police......presumably giving the police plausible deniability.

 

I imagine the village head either takes a cut or just keeps his head down.

[KiChakayan]

On 12/15/2021 at 3:16 PM, pacovl46 said:

In that case I would build my house on stilts, traditional Thai style, so when the flood comes only your driveway will be affected and your house stays dry. 

And how about the cars? 

[pacovl46]

On 3/24/2023 at 5:29 AM, KiChakayan said:

And how about the cars? 

You mean boats. They swim! ????

[Lacessit]

The pu yai in my GF's village adjudicates disputes. I don't know how much power he has, only that I have never seen the police in said village.

I suppose the authority each pu yai has varies between villages. As other posters have said, not a good idea to make an enemy of one.