Good Local Governance and Anti-corruption Through People's Participation: A Case of Thailand

Transcription

1 Good Local Governance and Anti-corruption Through People's Participation: A Case of Thailand By Dr. Orapin Sopchokchai Project Management Office Public Sector Reform Project October 8, 2001 Introduction Decentralization has been one of the reform efforts to improve community development programs in rural areas to better serve the needs and concerns of the local people. A number of studies and pilot tests have been conducted, but none persuaded top policy makers to truly decentralize their power. Following the promulgation of the Tambon Council and Tambon Administrative Act of 1994 and the new Constitution of 1997, decentralization and the creation of self-governing authorities again received national and international attention. To decentralize and transform the rigid, traditionally strong bureaucratic system of power that ruled and controlled the country for many decades is not easy but Thailand is now going down this thorny road. This paper discusses the decentralization process in Thai society, which demonstrates the lessons and experiences of the country fighting against difficulties to create good local governance a more transparent and people oriented system. In addition, it reports an example of a practical approach to mobilize local communities to monitor and combat corruption and to pave the way to gain access to public services. Through people's participation and involvement in planning and decision-making processes, a local authority with good local governance can be produced. Development of Local Government in Thailand Thailand changed from an absolute monarchy to a democratic government in 1932 as the revolutionists believed and stated that the Thai administration needed to be modernized and governed by the people's representatives. Indeed, a more modern, democratic system would allow the government to recruit professional and educated people to work for the country. The Administrative Law of 1933 primarily established three layers in the Thai administrative structure--the central or national administration, the provincial administration, and local administration. These structures of the centralized 1

2 administration have become a dominant feature of Thai administrative culture that is difficult to change. Under supervision and direction of the Cabinet, the central ministries and departments played major roles in policy formulation and implementation. Implementation and administration at the provincial level were in hands of the regional offices of ministries and departments. To facilitate and coordinate public programs of various government agencies, a governor, who was a permanent civil servant under the Ministry of Interior was appointed. Local administration consisted of local officials directly or indirectly elected by the people. The local bodies were municipalities including the Bangkok Municipality. With this administrative pattern, Thailand, with a long history as a unitary kingdom, evolved into a centralized administration with a strong national government until today. The development of local governance has been as slow as the development of the Thai democratic system. In 1952, sanitary administration was added as another form of local body for rural communities. In 1955 and 1956, the Provincial Council and the Tambon Council were created at the provincial and tambon levels respectively. Members of these organizations were partly appointed and partly elected to oversee development activities at the local level. This set up aimed to promote and prepare local communities for a self-governing system. Box 1: Information about Thailand About Thailand and its Government Location: Southeast Asia Size: About 517,000 square km. Capital: Bangkok Admin. Areas: 75 Provinces plus Bangkok Metropolitan Area 876 Districts and Sub-districts 7,255 Tambons 69,367 Villages Local Gov.: 75 Provincial Administrative Organizations 1,129 municipalities (as of June 1, 1999) 2 special forms of Local Government (Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and Pattaya) 6,747 Tambon Administrative Organizations (as of March 2000) Population: 61,466,178 people (30,874,576 females and 30,591,602 males) Although Thailand has a long experience with the development of local government at all levels, most local people have had limited access or control over political power and resources. Decentralization has largely been in the form of deconcentration through provincial and district offices. During the past five decades, 2

3 the national government has never fully transferred power from the central to the local administration, even though many efforts have been made to establish real local government in Thailand. Decentralizing decision-making powers to the local level and people s participation in community development has become one of the most important development issues discussed over the past two decades. Political demand for selfgoverning bodies at the Tambon (or sub-district) level emerges because tambons are considered as the fundamental governing units at the provincial administrative level. In addition, many reports and scholars have highlighted repeated problems and undesirable experiences from the failure of government efforts to eradicate poverty and improve the quality of life for rural people. Many questions were raised about the sustainability of the program and its projects that were mainly managed and implemented by the national government. Officials who work in the community are appointed by the central government; therefore, they are accountable to their supervisors in Bangkok rather than to the local community. It is widely recognized that decentralization will increase the efficiency and responsiveness of local government. Locally elected leaders know their constituents better than officials appointed from the central government. They can provide the public services the local people required. Technically and physically, it is easier for local residents to hold local officials accountable for their performance. On the other hand, it is widely recognized that true and sustainable development takes place when the stakeholders of a community equally and democratically share ideas and visions, as well as participate and take responsibilities together to steer and implement development activities. This creates a sense of ownership as well as partnership in development. An effort to establish a bottom-up, people-centred planning and community development approach was initiated to administer rural development at the beginning of the fifth National Economic and Social Development Plan in In practice, however, real people s participation in planning their future and in development processes seems unobtainable as long as administrative power and resources are in the control of the central offices. The movement to decentralize power to local authorities become alive after: (1) the end of the cold war as communism was less of a threat to national security, (2) rural development gained higher priority and recognition, and (3) there were increasing pressures for political and bureaucratic reforms. But the debate continued and became an important political issue after the political unrest of 1992, the newly elected government, with the five parties, proposed a decentralization act, and four of the five parties proposed to replace appointed provincial governors with elected ones. In 1994, the Government announced the Tambon Council and Tambon Administration Organization Act, which became effective on March 2, The top-down development approach in Thailand has illustrated the pitfalls of improving quality of life and in serving the real needs and concerns of communities. The new Tambon Council and Tambon Administration Organization Act of 1994 aimed to decentralize administrative power to local people and to revitalize the 3

4 people s participation in community development affairs, and to decentralize decision-making power to people at the Tambon and village levels. After the Tambon Act of 1994, it is worth noting two other important milestones-the development of the 8 th National Economic and Social Development Plan ( ) and the promulgation of the new Constitution in 1997-which was designed to promote and build a more open and democratic society. Based on a nation-wide process of consultation that involved a series of participatory meetings to gather inputs from all sectors of society, the 8 th Plan finally defines development as a people centered process. This includes a new development paradigm in Thai society to replace the top-down approach that was previously and widely practiced by public agencies. In particular, the Plan emphasizes enabling and empowering local people to develop their own communities through decentralization of government functions and resources, enlarged public participation, increased transparency and an improved system of governance. The new Constitution was promulgated on October 11, It creates a new framework for restructuring national and local governance and for the reform of electoral and political processes. It is the first Constitution to introduce many radical reforms on matters concerning relations between the state and civil society. Of particular importance to local governance, the Constitution's articles support the decentralization Act and the Tambon Council and Tambon Administrative Organization Act of In addition, the Constitution creates a framework for decentralization and people's participation that can be summarized in three areas, as follows: 1. Organization and Administration. The local authorities have the freedom to manage development and provide public services according to the needs of their constituents in the local community. Local administration can formulate development plans, personnel policy, as well as budget and financial policy. In addition, the Constitution emphasizes that all local authorities must be elected and will be in office for four years. 2. Duties and Responsibilities. The local authorities are responsible for the development and conservation of natural resources and the environment in their local community. The national government will transfer appropriate functions (including public service delivery) as well as budget subsidies to the local government. The local government can collect certain taxes that a tri-party committee agrees upon, and this agreement will be reviewed every five years. 3. Public Participation. The Constitution indicates that people in local communities can monitor, control and oversee the results and performance of the local administration. It is the government's duty to promote the people's participation in conserving and protecting natural resources and the environment. People can sue any public officials or organizations that fail to perform their authorized functions. A total of 75 percent of the people who voted can impeach any local officials, and 50 percent of the registered voters can propose a new community regulation. 4

5 Following the promulgation of the Constitution, much progress has been made in the areas of decentralization and local governance in Thailand. To facilitate the decentralization processes, the Government appointed a committee to review the old structure and administration, and to recommend necessary adjustments. An important solution announced by the committee to reform local government was that there should be four types of local government in Thailand--Provincial Administrative Organizations, municipalities, Tambon Administrative Organizations, and a special form of city governance, such as the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration and the Pattaya Administration. In addition, old laws and regulations were revised and changed to be consistent with the Constitution. Currently, 12 laws related to local governance have been enacted, and a few more are being formulated. The Current Thai Government and Administration The Thai Government and administration at the national and local levels demonstrated in Chart 1 was recently adjusted to bring it in line with the Constitution. At the national level, ministries (the Cabinet) direct and supervise the 14 ministries and 125 departments. These organizations are divided by functions to provide and deliver public goods and services. Almost all of them have had regional offices and are established public service system network for more than 50 years. While the 8 th Plan and the Constitution set up a new decentralized framework, the Government administration and practices, especially at the national and regional levels still remain the same. At the national level, the ministries and departments still control resources and implement most development activities. Officials are appointed to conduct this task at the regional and local levels. The newly created local authorities such as the Provincial Administrative Organizations (PAOs) and Tambon Administrative Organizations (TAOs) still control very limited resources. As the PAOs have only recently been created and elected, there is widespread argument and confusion about their scope and areas of responsibility, especially with regarding to TAO as well as to the traditional structure of the central system. These questions have not yet been clarified. 5

6 Chart 1 The National and Local Government Structure in Thailand Senate and Parliament National Level Government (Cabinet) Ministry of Interior (MOI) Ministries Departments Regional and Local Level BMA Council Provincial Administrative Organization Provincial Governors (MOI) Regional or Provincial Agencies BMA Governor Municipalities Provincial Offices Provincial Agencies BMA Staff District Offices District Agencies TAO TAO Staff Village Representatives Elected members (politiciaus) Appointed staff (civil servants) Direct supervision Coordinate and/or indirectly advise 6

7 In the midst of resistance from the traditional bureaucratic system, the laws and the Constitution paved the way for many self-governing, self-regulated local authorities to exist. The most important formation of local government in Thailand is the Tambon Administrative Organizations (TAOs) because: TAOs are the closest and smallest governance at the community level. A large number of TAOs are established as legal entities and they are an important mechanism to develop community. The success of TAOs will lay an important foundation for developing democratic society in the future. Community development can better serve the needs of local people as they can decide their own future. Local Governance at the Tambon Level After the Tambon Council and Tambon Administrative Organization Act of 1994 was promulgated, all existing Tambon Councils became legal entities and those that could demonstrate a sound financial capacity were designated TAOs. Once community elections are completed, an autonomous, self-managed, and selfgoverning community body, or the TAO, is formed to plan and manage community development affairs. The structure of TAO governance is divided into two branches: the Tambon Council consists of two elected representatives from each village responsible for policy and development direction, and the Tambon Executive Committee, which consists of a chairperson and two TAO members selected by the TAO Council and appointed by the District Officer. The TAO Executive Committee is responsible for developing a tambon development plan and an annual budget, and to manage all tambon affairs. Both elected committees are in position for four years. The TAO staff members are classified as permanent local civil servants, and their salary is paid from the TAO s budget expenditures. A TAO permanent secretary is a secretary of the TAO Executive Committee. Until the Local Public Personnel Administration Act of 1999 is fully in effect, TAO staff is recruited and appointed by the Department of Local Administration of the Ministry of Interior. By law, TAOs are responsible for the economic, social, cultural and environmental development at the tambon level. Duties and responsibilities are classified into two categories: required responsibilities and duties such as providing and maintaining land transportation and waterway, keeping streets and public lands clean as well as manage solid waste disposal, etc. and optional tasks such as promoting cottage industries, promoting occupational employment for local people, etc. TAOs obtain revenue to manage and implement all tasks from three sources: 7

8 Taxes, fees, fines and benefits collected by TAO such as housing and land taxes, advertising board taxes, etc. Transferred taxes collected by other organizations such as value-added taxes collected by the Ministry of Finance, etc. Grants and subsidies allocated through the Ministry of Interior. After the Act of 1994 became effective, the first 617 tambons were eligible to be upgraded and the first election was on May 1, A total of 6,747 TAOs were elected in the following years. Since 1994, five elections have been organized for the upgraded tambons. Currently, a total of 6,747 tambons are governed by local representatives. This adds up to 123,973 elected TAO members, with less than 10 percent of them being females. Since the first election in 1995, the percentage of people who voted has increased every year from percent in 1995 to percent in It should be noted that in the 1998 election, which was the re-election of the first 617 TAOs, the number of registered voters and percentage of people who voted increased remarkably. It is obvious that people are increasingly realizing the importance of local election for their community. The Constitution provides support for the new legislation on decentralization acts that set out to promote the creation of autonomous, self-managed and selfregulating communities. However, the success of the decentralization of administrative and decision-making power is not merely a creation of a self-governing body, it is important to ensure that the new system can function properly and that local people will truly participate in the decision-making processes. The TAOs must be accountable to serve the real needs and interests of the people in their community. Establishing and creating TAOs are not as simple as passing laws. Many problems have surfaced. People, especially those who used to hold control power, are skeptical, and have raised their voices in concern. Major problems are: Central agencies and civil servants do not accept the TAOs as equal partners in development. While Article 69 of the Act attempts to establish a coordination mechanism between Government agencies and local authorities by requiring all state agencies planning to operate development activities at the tambon level to inform the TAOs in advance, and adjust their work plans and programs. In practice, very few organizations pay attention. TAOs often carry out development projects on their own, and almost all projects involve infrastructure, such as village roads, small bridges, and village water supply systems that require minimum technology. Without coordination, information and technical assistance, many social and economic projects such as AIDS prevention programs, education projects, drug abuse projects, environmental protection, employment promotion projects, etc. are rarely included in the TAO's annual budgets. This is because most responsible officials and TAO members do not have sufficient knowledge and information on how to design such projects. In addition, Government agencies often advise or recommend each TAO to allocate about 20,000-30,000 baht to help 8

9 support cultural activities organized by the District Offices, or to buy more medicine for the local hospitals or allocate budgets to buy satellite disks. As a study review, TAO budget plans were found to be alike; even through each community has different problems and needs. Former community leaders (Kannan and Village Headmen), who were appointed as members of the Tambon Executive Committee before the law changed in 1999, always played a major role in planning and allocating TAO budgets for development activities. Elected TAO members who are new and inexperienced usually do not have much information and cannot actively participate in this process. As a result, limited resources are allocated for construction projects. All TAOs have limited and unstable revenue due to the nature of taxes they collect. During the bubble economy, land transfer taxes made several TAOs wealthy overnight, but this revenue is not stable. Many TAOs expanded offices, hired more staff, and started several big projects. After the crises, these TAOs' budgets were reduced by more than 50 percent. The remaining revenue is now used to finance high administrative costs, or to support the maintenance costs of existing infrastructure. Many TAOs are facing a financial crisis as demand for services and expenditures rise. Lack of people participation in planning and decision-making processes. The Tambon Act and the MOI's regulations stated that people could observe TAO meetings and minutes must be announced. These regulations aim to create transparency and encourage tambon residents to participate and monitor TAO decisions and performance. Unfortunately, very few TAOs follow the guidelines and local residents are not aware that they have the right and opportunity to participate. In general, they do not fully understand their rights and duties. Due to the lack of transparency and the participation of the people, TAOs can easily be corrupted. Evidently, many contracts for TAO projects are distributed among subcontractors who are friends or relatives. Conflict and corruption are found in many areas, and sometimes conflicts between different groups of TAO members who want to protect their own interests turn violent. Rigid and complex administrative rules and regulations issued by the Ministry of Interior are difficult for local officials to understand and follow as they do not have much experience of the bureaucratic system. Although there are a number of problems and obstacles to establishing good local governance at the tambon level, many TAOs are improving over time and developing new governance system to be more effective. The decision in 1994 to decentralize power to local level is bearing some fruit despite people who are skeptical. The major benefits can be summarized as the follows: 1. Promote democracy in Thai society. The establishment of TAOs at the community level throughout the country creates a learning opportunity for people at the grassroots level to experience people power and to learn the 9

10 importance of people representatives. Villagers are now more serious about elections and they want to vote for the people who will truly work for the community. After several years, more and more TAO members understand their roles as village representative and they have tried to improve their performance to maintain their popularity. 2. Stimulate public sector reform. The Tambon Council and Tambon Administrative Act of 1994 as well as the Constitution that supports the decentralization acts have helped stimulate other public sector reform. The central ministries and departments are currently forced to review the roles and functions to be transferred to local authorities. Several central agencies may be shifted to the local level or even terminated. 3. Development projects serve some of the immediate needs of local people. While corruption still occurs in local administration, it is obvious that roads and other form of land transportation in many communities are improving and local residents are quite satisfied. A challenging task for the Thai society is to strengthen all local authority to be able to deliver services that are transferring from central agencies. Since the fiscal year 2000, the central government reallocated budget to local authorities and it was targeted to transfer up to 35% in The Cabinet resolution was clear that at the end of the reform process, the central agencies must be smaller and focus only on national policy and regulations. Create Good Local Governance through People s Participation Over the past several decades, the Government tried to improve the quality of life and eradicate poverty among rural people. One of the significant efforts was to establish a bottom-up approach that aimed to mobilize people s participation in community development. The goal has not yet been fully achieved. Once the Tambon Council and Tambon Administration Act of 1994 and the Decentralization Laws are in effect, the challenging task is to set up and decentralize authority, functions and responsibility to the local bodies. But it is as important to ensure that this new system of local government can successfully and effectively serves the needs of the people in their community. Good local governance will provide the people with democratic and equal opportunities to participate in decision-making processes. A more transparent and effective local government will challenge people to effectively control and monitor their performance. Approaches to mobilize people s participation and methods to introduce a good local governance in Thai society are drown from a series of action research projects carried out by the Thailand Development Research Institution Foundation (TDRI) between 1990 to TDRI conducted a series of action researches, used different models and methodologies to mobilize people s participation. The project discovered a powerful brainstorming technique known as the A-I-C (Appreciation, Influence, and 10

11 Control, developed by ODII) 1 approach to be used as a tool to mobilize people s participation in community development and create a more transparent local administration. The approach that helps transform this community from on of traditional bureaucratic control to a more transparent and participatory community is to stimulate development force and awareness among villagers and formulate development plan at the village level. It developed from our belief that true and sustainable development cannot take place through order, but it naturally happens when all actors and stakeholders equally and democratically participate and share their ideas, dreams, visions, and responsibility to steer and implement development projects. The TDRI adopted and further tested the A-I-C approach, which is a technique to provide and arrange a village forum for stakeholder groups at the community level to equally think and plan their community future. Organizing a village forum in every village greatly benefits the decentralization process and the development of good local governance. From our research experience, there are interesting findings and developments that can be summarized as follows: TAO members who represent the village feel that they are accountable to their constituents and their new roles are to debate the tambon development budget for their village and to monitor the progress of decision for the villagers. After the forum, each TAO member learned more about the needs and concerns of their constituents and understood the nature of development programs. The TAO's annual expenditures were normally allocated for administrative costs and infrastructure projects, and did not include social projects, such as childcare center, skill development and employment projects, and women's projects. Once the TAO Council members received information about the villagers' needs to develop these social projects, they are usually willing to finance any development activities in response to the needs of local citizens. This will lead to future opportunities that local people will be able to receive better public services from the TAO. The model to bring various community stakeholder groups (including women, youths, farmers, disadvantaged groups, the rich and the poor) to exchange ideas, share views and visions, and commit to help achieve their dreams not only promotes community development but also create good local governance and support decentralization, as follows: - It empowers local residents to monitor and control their TAO. - Stakeholder groups that were previously excluded from the planning process can voice their needs and concerns. 1 The A-I-C approach is developed and introduced by the Organizing for Development, and International Institute (ODII), a non-governmental organization in Washington D.C. The ODII and the TDRI conducted the first research project to test this approach in 1990 and TDRI later fine-tune the technique to fit the Thai context. The A-I-C approach, which has its origins in a concept of the power field and the effect of the environment combines the best of several brainstorming techniques and is designed as a participatory planning forum at the village level. 11

12 - Community network at the village level are formed and strengthened. - Villagers are more interested in monitoring and follow-up on the progress of community development and they can exercise their power as given by Law. TAO council members and TAO staff have changed to be more transparent and more honest with their constituents about all decisions. It becomes routine to consult people about big investment projects, tax increases or reductions, new fees, and annual budget expenditures. And people now expect to be informed and consulted. This can be considered a new political culture in Thai society. Fortunately, top policy-makers at the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) shares and understood the process and the real benefits, such as the transparency and honesty of the TAO, people's attitudes towards local selfgoverning authorities, and efficiency and effectiveness of development programs, a national two-year program is developed and will start to implement in 75 provinces between The program aims to stimulate people s awareness about their roles and duties to monitor TAO s performance to ensure efficiency, transparency and prevent any wrongdoing at the community level. An ultimate outcome from the program is to establish people organization to combat corruption and to develop network between these people network with the NCCC at the national level. In addition, many measures are now put in place to stimulate people s roles in fighting corruption. One of them is whistle-blower and witness protection program. This program has been developed, for the first time in Thailand, to encourage people who have information and evident about any wrongdoing at all levels to work with proper authorities and to ensure they safety. 12

13 References Department of Local Administration Laws, Rules and Regulations for Tambon Administrative Organization (Revised Document). The Department of Local Administration, the Ministry of Interior, (in Thai). Chulalongkorn University Study on Structure and Direction to Strengthen Tambon Administrative Organization. A Working Paper submitted to The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board, Bangkok Thailand, (in Thai). Organizing for Development: an International Institute The A-I-C Approach: Concepts. ODII: Washington D.C. Office of the Civil Service Commission Development of Local Governance in Thailand, A Working Paper of the Project, entitled Promotion of Sound Governance by Decentralization, the Civil Service Commission, (in Thai). Sopchokchai, Orapin Strengthen Women's Ability to Participate in Village Development Planning and Decision-making Processes: An Action Research. Bangkok: Thailand Development Research Institute People s Participation in Community Development, a paper presented at the TDRI Year-End Conference on Thailand s Development Participation, December 9-10, 1995, at the Ambassador City Hotel, Jomtien, Cholburi, Thailand, (in Thai with a summary in English) Thai Public Sector and New Partnership in Development, a paper presented at the Year-End Conference on Reforming Thai Public Sector for the Future of Thailand, December 13-15, 1996 at the Ambassador City Hotel, Jomtien, Cholburi, Thailand, (in Thai with a summary in English) Model to Strengthen Tambon Administrative Organization, TAO, a final report submitted to the Office of National Economic and Social Development Board, TDRI, (in Thai). United Nations Development Program Human Development Report of Thailand. Bangkok: UNDP. 13

14 Good Local Governance and Anti-corruption Through People's Participation: A Case of Thailand Dr. Orapin Sopchokchai Director Project Management Office Public Sector Reform Project The Office of Civil Service Commission sopchokchai@hotmail.com orapin@ocsc.or.th October 8,