Local administration organisations (LAOs) should be elected if they are to best meet the people's needs, a forum was told yesterday in a direct rebuke to the regime's policy of having appointed people in charge.
Those in power also must have faith in the power of the decentralisation policy, said Wuthisarn Tanchai, deputy secretary-general of King Prajadhipok's Institute (KPI).
It is the ideal form of government because it requires participation from locals, he said.
The challenge is finding a way to get the most out of the policy. This requires adapting the way LAOs make their income so they can be financially independent.
Mr Wuthisarn was addressing a KPI forum on LAO reforms.
The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has decreed that LAO members who complete their terms be replaced by appointees, most of whom are civil servants from the Interior Ministry.
The aim of the order was to streamline LAOs, many of which have been accused of corruption due to budget irregularities.
Participants at the forum disagreed with the NCPO. They insisted provincial and tambon administration organisations formed the basis of power decentralisation, which best serves the needs of local people, both in terms of administration and how budgets for local development are allocated.
"People are satisfied with the decentralisation policy. It represents a step forward. We've come too far to go back now," Mr Wuthisarn said.
Democracy requires a bottom-up approach to empower people, with curbs on centralised power, he said, adding LAOs should be run by people with diverse backgrounds.
The academic dismissed concerns of corruption and voting fraud in LAO elections.
He said some influential LAO heads were known to have been booted out at elections, while certain executives faced impeachments filed by locals.
Prajak Kongkiat, a political scientist at Thammasat University, said LAO polls must be redesigned to tackle electoral malpractice and should be tailored to each locality.
Theerasak Panichwich, National Reform Council member and a former chairman of Phetchaburi's Ban Mor tambon administration organisation, admitted some LAOs are embroiled in corruption scandals.
If they want to prove to the junta that LAOs are worth keeping, members must overcome these problems, he said.