Nongprue Mayor Mai Chaiyanit: Winning accolades in Pattaya’s shadow

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Over his 30 years in office, Nongprue Mayor Mai Chaiyanit has seen his sub-district grow into an incorporated municipality and a tourism giant rise in neighboring Pattaya.

Now in his fourth term as mayor, Mai oversaw the change from Sub-district Administrative Organization to Municipality and, this year, has collected six awards for overseeing Nongprue’s development.

Nongprue Mayor Mai Chaiyanit.Nongprue Mayor Mai Chaiyanit.

The honors this year include “KPI Best Executive,” “Corruption-Free Community,” “National Women’s Right Promotion Award,” “Best Tradition-Promotion Community Award from the Ministry of Culture,” “Best Civil Defense Volunteer Award” and “This Life is for the Country Award.”

Mai downplayed the accolades, saying they were from the joint efforts of Nongprue municipal council members and residents. He added that the municipality still needs fundamental development, such as roads, electricity, public water, drainage systems, and in education, religion, tradition and culture.

As for education, Nongprue offers formal and non-formal facilities as well as religious schools teaching both Buddhism and Islam. The district has a large Muslim population and, of course, foreigners with different cultural backgrounds. So, he said, it is important that the municipality take care of them and promote their traditions and cultures equally.