Page 134 - kpi20440

KPI Congress 20th
134
2018
Thai Democracy on the Move

The Change in Government Structure

The role of the Central Government can be seen from the structure of government.
During the New Order era under the Suharto administration working until 1998, the role of

the central government was very strong (Pellini et al. 2018). The Central Government designs
the government structure systematically so that all development policies and programs are

controlled from the center to the regions. The policy was designed by the center and carried
out by central government institutions in the region (Kantor Wilayah or Kanwil, Regional Offices

at the provincial level and the Kantor Departemen or Kandep at the district level). The space
for local governments to design their own local development policies implemented by local

agencies is very limited. Policies like this often do not reflect the needs desired by the region.

In the highly centralized New Order era, structurally, the Central Government
placed central institutions in the regions (Mokhsen 2003). Line ministries or line departments

are formed in provinces and regencies and cities. In the field of education, at the Center there
is a Ministry of Education, in the province there is a Kanwil of Education and in the regency/

city there is a Kandep of Education. In the health sector, there is a Ministry of Health at the
Center, there is a Kanwil of Health Affairs in the province and a Kandep of Health Affairs in the

district (see Figure 1). All Ministries in the Central Government except the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs have institutions in the provinces and districts. The presence of Kanwil and Kandep in

various development policies in education, health, infrastructure and others, reflects that all
policies come from the central government. Centrally designed policy models often do not

reflect real needs in the region. They do national policies uniformly, while regional needs vary
because there are variations in problems, culture, natural conditions.

เอกสารประกอบการประชุมกลุ่มย่อยที่ 3