'Political will is the key to decentralisation'

[Lite Beer]

'Political will is the key to decentralisation'
The Sunday Nation

DEMOCRAT LEADER Abhisit Vejjajiva has said successful decentralisation reform can happen but political willingness - or lack of it - will be the key to its success or failure. He has also made reform proposals for three forms of local administration that are designed to demonstrate a variety of characteristics of society.

Abhisit was speaking yesterday at the Songkhla Provincial Administration Centre in front of more than 1,000 administrative officials.

He said the answers to lot of debates and concerns regarding decentralisation, such as the delegation of powers and the responsibility and complexity in law drafting, had already been settled by the past reform committees and government bill. All that was required now was to study what had already been done and revise it to make it more complete, he said.

"Today's real problem [about decentralisation] is the political motive to do or not to do," he said.

However, he added: "We can't just sit back and hope that the goal [for the empowerment of local administrations] that had already been proposed will suffice."

Abhisit said the push for decentralisation and the empowerment of local administrations had been clearly written in the 1997 Constitution.

"If I just think in the same box and use the same methodology, we can't really expect any substantial changes," he said.

The three forms of local administration he proposed are large, small and special administration.

He said large local administrations should derive their administrative power from regional or central administrations, and it should be similar to a provincial administration. He said small administrations would face having insufficient income and relying on central government for up to 90 per cent of their budget. They would also face the challenge of adapting to the rapid growth of communities - from rural to urban.

The role, power and size of the administration must change according to the community it is administrating. "The challenge is to create the support mechanism that drives changes in those respective areas, and how to control and manage the change of those administrations according to the development of respective area," he said.

"For example, should municipalities' administrative area increase? Should district administration merge with the municipality?"

Abhisit said the special administrations should be used more widely, pointing out that they already existed in Bangkok and Pattaya, for example. He said Tak's Mae Sot district, for example, should opt for this form of administration because of its unique characteristics. Mae Sot is considered a special economic area due to its cross-border-trading location and the allure for tourists.

Abhisit said a special administration should be set up to monitor and develop such affairs.

He said a special administration was suitable for unique communities.

"We could have a special administration to manage cross-border trade or the economy, or one for a tourist city, one for a big city and another for a highly dense population, for example," he said.

He said that the push for amendments to the law might not be enough for local administrations to progress.

"What is needed is a change in working ethics and methodology, such as the high inclusion of people during the administrative process and a culture of cooperation amongst other local administrations, ministries and departments, for example," he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Political-will-is-the-key-to-decentralisation-30243749.html

-- The Nation 2014-09-21

[ThailandNoob]

I seem to recall that shortly after the coup, Prayuth spoke out strongly against any form of decentralisation. The fact that he has got rid of local elections would seem to indicate that he would rather take Thailand in the opposite direction.

Sent from my IS11T using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[chainarong]

I shiver when I hear this decentralisation getting bandied about, but only in Thailand, I cannot come to terms with someone handling a budget for highways or whatever in far flung Chiang Rai, keep everything central under one heading and introduce strict guidelines for all departments, where there's a will there's away and you betta believe it, in Thailand they will find away to raid the public purse.

[FangFerang]

Um, why was a university forum disallowed with "non-arrested" people going to the police stations for "reorientation discussions" whereas Abhisit addressed 1000 people in a very political discussion with no repercussions?

There is no way to skin this cat and call it phad Thai.

Only "some" groups are allowed to gather.

Next, I expect Abhisit to "warn" the junta (and that would be his fourth warning to the junta) not to allow people to notice such non-events, and not to fail to not discuss those non-events on social media because such non-events never happened, and in saving face no such questions ever really arose-- further, the sun will come up in the east tomorrow because everyone is happy again, except some deported and raped (oops, raped and then deported) foreign women, a couple dead Brits, and some hacked Vietnamese national who obviously was never really in Thailand at all, much less those pesky Royal Thai Navy boys who were counterfeiters, or the PDRC guards who tortured a man for seven days and then threw him in a khlong to die..or...or...or...

Mission accomplished -- all is reconciled!

[heybruce]

I shiver when I hear this decentralisation getting bandied about, but only in Thailand, I cannot come to terms with someone handling a budget for highways or whatever in far flung Chiang Rai, keep everything central under one heading and introduce strict guidelines for all departments, where there's a will there's away and you betta believe it, in Thailand they will find away to raid the public purse.

Right, control everything from Bangkok, where there is no corruption at all.

[rickirs]

"...a special administration was suitable for unique communities."

Can we then expect in the very large Muslim-majority provinces of Yala, Pattani, and Narathiwat that a special administration will be tailored to their Muslim culture? I'll bet Abhisit didn't think that far ahead.

[Ozziepat]

Problem is, decentralization is not the problem per se, it is only one potential or partial solution to a complex problem set. First, someone with a modicum of clarity in their thinking has to decide *what* needs to be accomplished, and whether decentralization is a possibly useful tool to be applied, and if so THEN consider best how to apply it. Endless discussion regarding the arcane minutia of hammer design are pointless if construction requires screws.

[rubl]

It would seem that decentralisation only works when there's a legal framework and people adhere to it.

As it is, provinces and their governors seem more the toys of politicians for their own good (or their party) than for the people in the province. Furthermore with the old local elite and political families still around and the people still really depending on them to be told what to do, decentralisation now would seem to be an invitation to disasters.

We still have Banharn's province, Newin's province, Thaksin's 'homeland'. Time for some much needed reform, I'd say.

[Robby nz]

It would seem that decentralisation only works when there's a legal framework and people adhere to it.

As it is, provinces and their governors seem more the toys of politicians for their own good (or their party) than for the people in the province. Furthermore with the old local elite and political families still around and the people still really depending on them to be told what to do, decentralisation now would seem to be an invitation to disasters.

We still have Banharn's province, Newin's province, Thaksin's 'homeland'. Time for some much needed reform, I'd say.

Other than the few such as BKK where they are elected at present most of the provincial governors are appointed by central Govt meaning that they owe their jobs to the politicians and must do what they are told.

In turn many of the village heads are appointed by the governors and they also must do what they are told.

The consequence of going against the politicians wishes is dismissal.

This was highlighted during the recent protests when the head of the village heads association led a delegation to BKK to clear the protesters from the interior ministry. He was reported as saying that the ministry being closed prevented him from helping village heads in 2 provinces who had been dismissed by the governors for publicly supporting the protesters.

All governors and village heads being elected would be a start to giving the people some say.