Pattaya marked the fifth Local Administration Day with religious ceremonies, music and dance whist honoring King Rama V, who began the move toward government decentralization.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome led the March 18 event at city hall, offering incense and flowers to honor the late king and reading a proclamation from Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda.
Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome lights candles to honor King Rama V on Local Administration Day.
Local Administration Day was launched by the Thai Cabinet in 2010 to mark the date when Rama V created the rural sanitary district, Tha Chalom, in 1906. That district later developed into the city of Samut Sakhon. It was also the first step toward local government administration, although true local rule would not take hold until the government moved to decentralize its Bangkok operations in the 1990s.
Pattaya also sprung from the Naklua Sanitation District, which was founded in 1958.
