An ex-Democrat MP petitioned the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) Wednesday to drop its plan to dissolve the city's district councils and replace each one with a so-called civic committee, an elected body.
Atthawit Suwanphakdi, the former MP, submitted a petition to Atchara Jongsitthimahakul, director of the BMA's Law and Litigation Department, requesting the proposal be revised.
"The district councillor is the only elected position that is least prone to being involved in corruption because the councillor doesn't hold any authority to propose a project or make decisions in any budget allocations of the BMA," he told the media.
Despite the weight of their responsibility, the councillor receives a monthly salary of just 11,990 baht, which is less than the rate a newly hired civil servant is paid, according to Mr Atthawit.
"The district councillor serves both as an adviser to the district office director and a general inspector with good connections with both the BMA and the voters in each district," he said.
The proposal to dissolve this locally elected representative is part of a draft amendment for the BMA's Public Administration Act (1985). The draft has been put up for a public hearing.
The proposal forms part of the national reform of local administrations stipulated by the constitution.
According to Mr Atthawit, no district councillor has been elected for the last four years.
Earlier, Gen Nakhon Sukprasert, a member of the committee on administrative reform, accused some Bangkok district councillors of posing as proxies for political parties and canvassing for votes on their behalf.
In related news, Kriangyos Sudlapha, a former BMA spokesman has been appointed as the new deputy governor of Bangkok, effective this Saturday.
Mr Kriangyos, a former party-list MP candidate of the Democrat Party, replaces Wilaiwan Phromlakkhana, who resigned.
The BMA has now appointed two politicians, Mr Kriangyos and Sakoltee Phattiyakul, as deputy governors. The two outgoing deputy governors were civil servants.