Democracy, Development and Decentralization in Provincial Thailand by Daniel Arghiros

Author:Daniel Arghiros [Arghiros, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Ethnic Studies, General, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781136861673
Google: ix8fDAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-05-06T06:02:31+00:00

Polling Day and the Aftermath

Shortly before polling, government officials and local office-holders told villagers in Ban Thung about the place of the elections in Thailand's democracy and the role of the provincial council, in a series of meetings and over the public address system villagers were told their duty as citizens of a democratic country, about the role and duties of provincial councillors, and they were advised, albeit subtly, on the identity of 'appropriate' candidates. A local teacher twice played a half-hour speech he had recorded about the duties of citizens and of councillors over the subdistrict public address system. The headman of Village Five lived up to his nickname of Headman Microphone and made three hour-long speeches from the Centre facilities. District officials addressed villagers at subdistrict meetings on three occasions. Making a fairly typical speech, the deputy district chief, after telling villagers that they lived in a democratic system, enjoined them to use their democratic rights. The official's preoccupation with obtaining a high voter turnout was typical and reflects the fact that the administration equates voter turnout with 'democracy,' irrespective of the quality of political participation. As one deputy district chief told villagers:

If you don't come, or only a few of you come, you will be giving a chance for a bad person to be elected. Officials greatly desire that everyone who has the right to vote, let's say 100 per cent, vote. This is a very important issue because the provincial councillor is our representative.

Whenever officials spoke of the role of the provincial councillor, they referred only to their role in bringing infrastructural development to the district, their role as vehicles for local infrastructural development. Not surprisingly, officials failed to highlight the role of councillors as representatives able to monitor and moderate the performance of government officials – a role Chit claimed he would adopt. Their representation of councillors' role also neglected entirely any role in broader development policy formation. Officials simply acknowledged the de facto role of provincial councillors as 'developers' – responsible for proposing projects and getting funding on behalf of the subdistricts in their constituencies. As another district official announced:

If we don't have a provincial councillor or we have a councillor who isn't interested and neglects his/her duty (nathi) we won't have our projects proposed. We must have someone who is interested in helping (chuay lua) the people – in helping maintain and keep an eye on the roads, and whatever else.

The night before polling Kamnan Han led a meeting of his 'inner circle' that had come together again to serve the electoral campaign of provincial politicians. Han's two deputies, two assistants, and two nephews joined him. All brought weapons with them to the meeting in the Subdistrict Centre. Kamnan Han told his group that he wanted to obtain a running total of polling results as villagers cast their votes, just as he had obtained for polling for his own position. He suggested that the official behind the ballot box use a more elaborate

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