The Role Authority and Status of future village chief and village headman in developing the strength of villages to support Southeast Asian Nations Community (ASEAN)

Abstract

The purposes of the study were two fold of 1. to study the roles, authority and functions, and status of village and sub-district leaders from past to present, and 2. to synthesize the proper roles, authority and functions, and status of those appropriate to the development of the village and sub-district strength based on the ASEAN. The sample consisted of 1,014 subjects gained by the cluster sampling technique. The subjects in the upper northeast region were in Thatphanom District, Nakorn Phanom Province since it is neighboring to Laos, those in the central northeast region were in Suwannabhum District, Roi-Et Province, and those in the lower northeast region were in Rasisalai District, Si Sa Ket Province since they had villages and districts of excellent performance. The tools employed included questionnaires, and an evaluation form of focus group discussion, the statistics employed for the collected data analysis was mean, and standard deviation. The findings were as follows: 1) It was found that, in the past, both village chiefs and headmen elected by the people in the villages received compensation from state in a life-long term, but the term was later adjusted to five-year term. Their duty was about all subject matter relating to relieving sufferings of the people. At present, however, they are elected from the people from the villages. They receive compensation from state and to be retired at the age of sixty. As far as their overall roles and authority and function was concerned, their performance was rated medium. This was believed to be resulting from the fact that they had too much duty: they had to shoulder many responsibilities from every state department and ministry in the village level, thus, made their roles and authority and function not quite as dominant as it should have been. 2)The appropriate roles, authority and function and status of the future village chiefs and headmen which fit for developing the strength of the village to support ASEAN community is to develop specific attributes that can be able to adjust themselves more quickly. They must, furthermore, be good executives in order to create better understanding among people in the area and be able to solve problems correctly. Their suitable status is to be leaders or representatives elected by people from the villages and receive compensation from the state.