Tambon
Tambon () is a local government unit in
Thailand. Below
district (
amphoe,
Thai: อำเภอ) and
province (
changwat,
Thai: จังหวั"), they form the third administrative subdivision level. As of the
2000 census there are 7254 tambon, not including the 154 kwaeng (แขวง) of
Bangkok, which are set at the same administrative level, thus every
district contains 8-10 tambon. Tambon is usually translated to English as sub-district or
commune. Tambon are further subdivided into 69,307 villages (
Muban, หมู่บ้าน), about 10 per tambon. Tambon within cities or town have no subdivision into villages, but into communities (
chumchon).
Tambon as a subdivision are quite old already. They were the second-level subdivision of the area administrated by a provincial town in the 19th century. The governor of the province was supposed to appoint a commune elder (
kamnan or
phan).
Phan also means 1000, which refers to the fact that a tambon was supposed to have about 1000 abled-bodied men. (Phan can be refer to a military title which is a Tambon governor.)
In the administrative reforms started in
1892 under Prince
Damrong Rajanubhab, the first Thai minister of Interior, the three levels of subdivision of provinces were continued, i.e. starting from
district to tambon to the lowest level called
muban. Additionally in
1898 the first
sukhaphiban (sanitation districts, สุขาภิบาล) were created, the
sukhaphiban of Bangkok as the first urban and
Tha Chalom as the first rural. As the name suggest their prime purpose was to oversee the sanitary development of the areas.
In the
Local Administration Act of 2457 (
1914) the roles of the subdivisions were first codified into law. Two levels of
sukhaphiban were introduced, the
sukhaphiban mueang for towns and
sukhaphiban tambon for rural areas.
With the
Tambon Council and Tambon Administrative Authority Act BE 2537 (
1994) and later by the constitution of 1997 the tambon were decentralized into local government units with an elected Tambon Council. Depending on the size and tax income a tambon may either be administrated by Tambon Administrative Organization (TAO, องค์การบริหารส่วนตำบล) or a Tambon Administration (TA, สภาตำบล). The TAO or TA consist of two representatives from each muban in the tambon. From the group a leader is chosen, who in practice often, but not always, also happens to be the
kamnan. Those tambon which were sanitary districts before 1994 have been converted into townships (
thesaban tambon), also administrated by a TAO. The tambon area which belong to a town or city (
thesaban mueang or
thesaban nakhon) is administrated by the city council. In case only a part is within a municipality, the remaining part is administrated by a TAO. Adjoining tambon of a single amphoe can also have a joined TAO responsible for more than one tambon.
In 1999, Thai prime minister
Thaksin Shinawatra started a project in which every tambon should select a typical local product. The project then does the promotion for the product, as well as assists in modernizing the production.
*
Subdivisions of Thailand*
ThaiTambon.com - One Tambon One Product*
Tambon Council and Tambon Administrative Authority Act BE 2537 (
PDF)
