News Analysis
DO EXPAT residents count? What effect do the island's 100,000 Burmese have on Phuket's health service? Why are the facilities and Phuket's infrastructure not as good as they should be?
One of the biggest stumbling blocks to Phuket making progress has been the mean budget allocation from Bangkok. The budget is based on the needs of the 320,000 registered Thai citizens of Phuket - estimated to be about 50 percent of the actual Thai population.
Add the thousands of tourists and legal and illegal Burmese, and Phuket's population probably tops one million in high season calendar months . . .
GOVERNOR Wichai Praisa-ngob has spent the past few days in Bangkok, battling to boost Phuket's budget allocation. And now comes the province's own census, first of its kind in all of Thailand, with the aim of delivering a realistic and accurate account of just who lives on Phuket.
Stand by to be counted.
The census-takers began work on July 1 and reckon that a full count will take about a month.
Confusion about numbers also keeps Phuket's police force small and inadequate, without the support of an army of volunteers.
It also means there can only ever be speculation about the total number of expats living on the island . . . because they do not figure in budget allocations. Are there 50,000, or 30,000?
How many Burmese live here, using medical resources, yet often without paying tax?
Budgets have also been bungled regularly. For some projects, the money becomes available before permission has been granted. And by the time that permission actually comes through, the grant expiry date has arrived.
In other cases, objections from the Natural Resources and Environment Department or the Forests Department have to be overcome before road projects can proceed.
Last year, Phuket's budget was, remarkably, the 72nd smallest of Thailand's 76 provinces. Yet the income stream from the island's tourism industry is massive. That's the most telling indication of the commitment by the Thai government to promote tourism.
Is it any wonder that the island's attempt to compete with other tourist destinations in the region is handicapped by a lack of international-standard basics?
Governing a country without reliable statistical information is a recipe for certain failure.
If Phuket's current bid to become the site for World Expo 2020 is going to succeed, authorities will need to build a public transport system for an island that has a growing population of more than one million, not one for a mere 320,000 registered citizens.
In many areas of government, transparencies is helping to break down some of the misconceptions about where the money goes. An accurate set of figures from the start would also help to expose corruption.
Using realistic figures for statistics would also destroy the notion that Phuket is somehow more dangerous - the island is said to have larger HIV infection rates and a higher road toll - when the comparisons are based on a false number of residents.
Phuketwan was in the office with one of Governor Wichai's predecessors on the day he learned that the budget he had asked for from Bangkok had been slashed in half. Such unfairness has a profoundly negative effect on the island - and its administrators.
The governor's aim to add realism to the budget allocations for Phuket is a timely piece of logical administration. It deserves wholehearted support.
Put your hand up, for Phuket's sake.
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A very laudable effort but it is a pity that the census is conducted in July/August when most expats with children are on holiday abroad and when at least one fourth of all expat residents are NOT on Phuket and thus cannot be counted.
Posted by Dirk Naumann on July 5, 2010 11:19