PHUKET: Municipal elections on Phuket are expected to reignite the battle for Phuket's beaches and bring to the fore a range of passions and resentments.
Elections for mayors and councils are due to take place on November 19 for tessabans in Kamala, Thepkasattri, Korkaew, Mai Khao, Sorkoo and Cherng Thalay, with smaller orbortors at Sri Sunthorn and Chalong yet to fix dates.
Plenty of heat has been generated about local issues in council areas, with debate at its hottest about illegal beach restaurants and in one case, a road that allegedly was built to serve locals but in actuality went straight to a large hotel on the beachfront through an environmentally-sensitive billabong.
How far the Phuket local struggle against corruption has come will be gauged in some of the districts by the number of candidates. Are the old ways changing?
Some of Phuket's 19 local administrations are well-run with transparency and community welfare in place for all to see. Others are less well-run with accusations of self-interest or special interest widespread.
From today until Friday October 21*, candidates for the role of mayors and councillors are being invited to get involved in local politics.
The establishment of so many small local councils for Phuket has produced a mixed outcome, and left the care of Phuket's beaches, for example, open to each local administration to uphold or abuse.
Phuketwan argues that all Phuket beaches should be under the control of one body, and not left to the various local councils to make their own decisions about what's good for their own small corner of Phuket.
Garbage is another case in point where local councils each do their own thing, leaving implementation of campaigns to reduce, reuse and recycle fraught with the difficulty of persuading 19 bodies to coordinate as one.
*This date was wrong in an earlier version of the article.
Elections for mayors and councils are due to take place on November 19 for tessabans in Kamala, Thepkasattri, Korkaew, Mai Khao, Sorkoo and Cherng Thalay, with smaller orbortors at Sri Sunthorn and Chalong yet to fix dates.
Plenty of heat has been generated about local issues in council areas, with debate at its hottest about illegal beach restaurants and in one case, a road that allegedly was built to serve locals but in actuality went straight to a large hotel on the beachfront through an environmentally-sensitive billabong.
How far the Phuket local struggle against corruption has come will be gauged in some of the districts by the number of candidates. Are the old ways changing?
Some of Phuket's 19 local administrations are well-run with transparency and community welfare in place for all to see. Others are less well-run with accusations of self-interest or special interest widespread.
From today until Friday October 21*, candidates for the role of mayors and councillors are being invited to get involved in local politics.
The establishment of so many small local councils for Phuket has produced a mixed outcome, and left the care of Phuket's beaches, for example, open to each local administration to uphold or abuse.
Phuketwan argues that all Phuket beaches should be under the control of one body, and not left to the various local councils to make their own decisions about what's good for their own small corner of Phuket.
Garbage is another case in point where local councils each do their own thing, leaving implementation of campaigns to reduce, reuse and recycle fraught with the difficulty of persuading 19 bodies to coordinate as one.
*This date was wrong in an earlier version of the article.
Corruption in Thailand... Well, let me remind you that Thailand's growth rate has been and is forecast to continue at around 7-10% a year. Growth in the Eurozone is almost zero or actually negative. To have a flexible economy that tolerates corruption is what allows a Second World country like Thailand to joint the First World, whereas Europe on the other hand has already been starting to look and feel like the Second World for years and sometimes like the Third World (been to England recently?) Europe is weighed down by too many rules and regulations and bylaws which is exactly what it doesn't need at present. Thailand enjoys a pragmatic and flexible approach to law making, interpretation and enforcement and is benefiting tremendously from it. My Thai girlfriend is actually a lawyer and she always explains to me how Thai law is rarely strictly enforced as in the West. It's about finding a harmonious compromise between the interests of all parties concerned, and if that means bending the law, interpreting it liberally or even flouting it, then so be it to achieve the holistic sense of social justice for all that prevails in the Thai legal mindset. It's not about "I'm right you're wrong because this clause of this law book says so". As a foreigner it can be difficult to get your head around the Thai way of thinking.
Posted by Marmaduke on October 17, 2011 12:11