Phu Yai Baan is by no means the only village leader. Other leaders include
school teachers, abbot as well as some respectful elders. In practice, these people are
included as members of village council of which the village headman is the chairman.
The village council is a local administrative body, functioning to help the village
headman in matters concerning with well being of villagers. Anything concerns with
community development will be discussed within the council to call for cooperation. If
the headman is successfully and strongly authoritative, consent can be easily reached.
Matters concerning with village security is of prime importance. If something has gone
wrong within his village, the headman has to report himself directly to the district officer
or police chief of the district at once.
A meeting of all village headmen in the district will be held once a month at the
district office. Government’s requests and orders will be passed down to the village
headmen who, in turn, will inform their village men when they return to their villages.
Any petition from the villages, on the other hand, will also be submitted to the district
officer. Through such a channel that communication between the government and people
is officially made possible. In addition, it is a duty of the district officer to visit villages
in the area under his responsibility regularly.
In the village, political faction is not uncommon. Conflicts of interest between
individuals and groups do often occur.1
Individual conflicts can be easily solved by
village headman with the help from village elders. If the headman is not a strong man,
group conflicts may be showing outwardly. Actually, the village will be divided into
factions during the campaign for headman post. Such factions may be dissolved after the
campaign is over or still remains for some time. The division is also apparent during the
general election when several informal political groups of villagers are formed around
local leaders. Each leader is connected with outside political party actually through the
politician he gives support to. The involvement with such local and national politics of
the villagers can make the political campaign becomes more fiercely. Money will be
paid for votes and threats will be put forward. In that case, violence is sometimes
difficult to avoid.