Disclaimer: Our survey is entirely unscientific and is only meant to be indicative of the opinions held by The Isaan Record readership.
In terms of government, decentralization of power requires the transfer of decision-making power and accountability to local authorities. Whether certain provinces would group together to form sub-regional blocs for the sake of practicality still remains a moot point, though the question of whether the country’s governance would benefit from decentralization along federalist lines is an interesting one.
The survey focused on three core issues for government: taxation, governance, and public services. It offered respondents the option of maintaining the status quo, going for a solution that is somewhat evenly compromised between the central and local government, and a third way which wrested control of all three pillars from the clutches of central government and placed them largely in the purview of local government. There were 33 responses in total.
Taxation None of our respondents were in favor of keeping things as they are when it comes to taxation, with 100% of tax revenue from the provinces going to Bangkok. Under the current model the central government keeps the lion’s share for central government spending and returns the remainder to the provinces for Bangkok-approved spending.
About two-thirds voted for reversing this state of affairs by letting provinces keep the lion’s share of the taxes that they collect for discretionary spending.
Just over a third of respondents would still prefer all tax revenue to go to Bangkok for allocation, with the caveat that provinces should have more authority on how they can spend their allotted budgets.
Governance Once again nobody wanted keep things as they are; continuing to require central-government approval for all provincial decision-making received zero votes from our readers.
A third voted for some local matters remaining under the control of central government with devolution for some as-yet unspecified things.
Two-thirds think that provincial administrations should be empowered to deal with provincial matters without interference from the central government.
Public Services The pattern of wanting do away with the status quo continues with public services. Nobody agreed that central government should continue to be responsible for providing all public services such as education, healthcare, police, public transport, infrastructure, etc. nationwide.
Just under a third wanted the central government to share some of the responsibility for providing the aforementioned public services with provincial administrations.
The remainder of respondents would rather see these public services being accountable to provincial administrations, with central government taking the backseat in a more regulatory role, such as to ensure that national standards are met throughout the provinces.
Age Going by the age range of The Isaan Record respondents, decentraliszation of power appears to matter most to people in their 40’s, followed by those in their 50’s and their 20’s.
Gender Over 80% of the survey respondents were male, about 15% female and 3% who identify with a gender other than male or female.
Language Roughly a fifth of the responses were in English, with the rest in Thai.
If the overall results of this survey are anything to go by, the status quo has had its day. As it stands, local authorities are rarely accountable to the local public but answer instead to their respective ministers in Bangkok. If people in the provinces do not feel that Bangkok is accountable to them, who can blame them for demanding decentralization of power?
Isaan voters have a long track record of their candidates winning and then eventually losing. Northeasterners picked parties whose leaders became prime ministers in 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2011, and 2014. But they lost to coups (twice), court rulings (two or three times), and election annulments (twice). The overwhelming choice of Isaan voters (and the majority of voters throughout the country) now face a new challenge: an unelected Senate. Will its beloved Pheu Thai Party rise to the occasion and save democracy? Or will it take the premiership and break the pro-democratic bloc? Does it have any choice?
Natticha Nasee shares her journey of reclaiming her identity in Thailand after growing up in Nepal, where she was labeled a foreigner. A growing disconnect from her Thai heritage and loss of cultural ties compel her to return to Thailand and enroll at Khon Kaen University. There, Natticha finds reintegrating into Thai society doesn’t go as hoped, and she is soon labeled foreigner again due to her unfamiliarity with the language as well as simple cultural norms, like how to eat mu kata. Frustrated by again being treated as an outsider, Natticha eventually navigates the blurred lines between being both farang noi and Thai to make peace with her complex identity through the connections she forms and the enduring bonds of family.
Isaan would not be in poverty if the central government distributed administrative power to localities and was more careful in how it imposed development policies and projects in the region. The series “What will Isaan people get from the 2023 elections?” looks back on how Isaan has been left out in such policy making processes, and what can be done to resolve the issue.
While Tha Rae district in Sakon Nakhon province is well known for having the biggest Catholic community in Thailand, the district may perhaps be even better known for a darker history as the former heart of the dog meat trade in Southeast Asia. Although most residents of Tha Rae no longer eat dog meat and the tradition has died down due to the influence of Buddhism, some locals in Sakon Nakhon’s Tha Rae district still consume it. This raises the question: “Man’s best friend or favorite meal?” Isaan Record intern, Russell Chapman, goes to Sakon Nakhon to explore the issue.
