Improvement of Local Government Status: A Case Study of Tambon Administrative Organization

Abstract

This study aimed to  1) study the ways to improve status and mission of the Thai local administration organization Thailand 2) study the problems of the local administration organization. This is a documentary, qualitative legal research collecting relevant various documents related primarily from searching the "key words ".

The results indicated that guideline for improving status of local administration organizations was to promote Subdistrict (Tambon) Administration Organizations [Or Bor Tor] to municipalities by enacting the Interior Ministry Annoucement and by applying the criteria and procedure established by article 42 Clause 1 of the Tambon Council and Tambon Administration Authority Act B.E 2537,  and article  9, 12 of the Municipal Act B.E. 2496. To promote Or Bor Tor to Municipalities, income and population size must be taken into account. Opinions on the promotion must go through district, province, and Interior Ministry, respectively. Problem and obstacles to promotion of Or Bor Tor to municipalities were 1) loss of power of local administrations; 2) financial and management abilities; and 3) excessive population migration in some area. From this study, results suggested that in order to make the Or Bor Tor status having a proper size of population and income, controlling measures should be operated. Moreover, a consensus from local people must be achieve to adjust structure of Or Bor Tor. Additionally, regulatory authorizes should provide community participation in voting on administrative areas expansion. Furthermore, the regulatory authorizes which are responseible for for controlling Or Bor Tor are such as provincial governor through district official and related authorities, who legally are responsible for improving the potential to monitor and regulate Or Bor Tor effectively