Editor;
I respect, admire and salute Anand Panyarachun’s always fair-minded, common sense leadership, recommending that local administrative bodies be given power and authority to determine what works best for and within their village communities. The National Reform Committee is calling for decentralized, cooperative local decision-making regarding economic, social, political and security matters. Local administrative organizations should also be primarily responsible for running their own affairs, including overseeing local police, operating schools and managing natural resources in their rural areas.
There is an urgent need for a system-wide overhaul, especially in the aloof, Bangkok-centric Interior and Education Ministries, in order to increase community-based autonomy and relegate out-of-touch, imposed job-related work responsibilities. The aim should be to promote of the, by the and for the people independence, yielding to those most involved in critical day-to-day self-determination of relevant, core value survival issues.
Chanchai Prasertson
