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Durham E-Theses Leadership and development in North East Thailand Srimuni, Ruengdej How to cite: Srimuni, Ruengdej (1972) Leadership and development in North East Thailand, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10250/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk LEADERSHIP AND DEVELOPMENT IN NORTH EAST THAILAND BY /]A/ RUENGDEJ SRINUNI A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Social- Sciences, University of Durham in candidacy for the degree of Master of Arts. 29 September 1972 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. ABSTRACT The success of planning and implementation of development projects depends to a great degree on leadership Every human community is organised along some pattern. In rural Thailand the overall pattern of village organisation can be labelled as a social organisation or social structure.Whithin this overall structure there are ,a number of subpatterns of the system, relating to different aspects of community life. -There are, for example, the systems relating to, secular authorities,kinship, economics, education, status- prestige, and religion. The overall structure with its sub• sidiary systems, along with their associated values and beliefs provide the cultural framework in which leadership is shaped and nourished. The persons most likely to act as such leaders are the commune headman, the head of an extended family group, the former monk, the village headman, the teacher and the Abbot. Among them the last three persons are referred to as being more influential and of these three the headmaster is res• pected for his knowledge, but he is rarely a local, man, and this reduces his effectiveness. The Headman is often seen by many as the representative of the Central Government being involved too much with the administration. Therefore the Abbot emerges as the most influential person in the village, being both, a local man and independent of government support. Therefore the Government is trying to involve the Sangha in its Village Development Project, especially in the sensitive areas of the North East which are open to communist infiltration. i ' NONA KHAI NAKHON i X /NAKHONJ VyHAMOWl 1] ^ J<\ UBON XRWehAOHAWi; MAP OF THAILAND 5H0WINS oa THE STUDY SITS- ® BANGKOK m The Stuck Site ii INTRODUCTION This study was broadly conceived to deal with the village problems, village organisations, leadership and the role of Buddhism in the context of rural development. The main reason for such a broad study was that this provides this author with a "research apprenticeship"1, as well as the opportunity to achieve greater familiarity with different aspects of village life. Another reason was that such a broad basis allowed the author to employ both the anthropological approach and the sociological technique of survey interview as suggested by the author's supervisor and the research specialist of the Thai National Research Council respectively. An additional reason related to a major thesis of the study, namely, that genuine insight into any aspect village life is significantly enhanced by gaining a thorough understanding of the total village cult• ure, i.e. the people's overall way of life. It is appropriate to give- here a note of some previous events in the author's life which are directly relevant to the field study. The author is originally a native of the North East, and was born in a remote village which is located nominally . in Kalasin province, but is geographically 4-0 miles Northwest of the Kalasin main town. The author has led the monastic way of life as a novice and monk since 194-9 and, during 1954—1964, was a student of both the Eali school and the University iii • • • 111 Bangkok's-. It was traditional that a student who had previously passed the higher education examination, should be appointed a member of the committees for mafcking the lower level exam• ination papers and as one of the members of those committees the author marked annually the Nakdham examination papers from 1956—1965 and also that of the Eali grade 3-4 and 5 during 1963-1966. During 1960-1964, in order to observe the examination of both the Nakdham and the Pali and.also as a regional Sanghaa superintendent's representative, the author visited many exam• ination centres in the country as a whole, including that in the North East. One of these was that of Ban Ehai Yai where the field study was conducted. With regard to the above examinations they occurred annually and at set times of the year. From 1965 to 1967 as a practical graduate student of Mahachulalongkornrajrvidyalaya, the Buddhist University, the author was officially invited by the Sangha governor Deputy of Ubol to help the Sangha with their social services and assigned to Wat Thung Srimueng in the Ubol main town. In the meantime the centre for the Sangha social services was constituted by its committee with the Sangha Governor as the Director, the Sangha Governor Deputy as the Director's deputy and the author as the executive secretary. In the following year similar programmes extended rapidly to the other five North Eastern provinces. During the two full years that the author was V The household is the basic unit of the sample, which consisted of 100 individuals representing 100' households, drawn from the three village sections. In a large majority of the cases the person interviewed was the heard or, in his absence, a senior member of household. This accounts for the preponderance of males over females in the sample. Approximately two-thirds of all households in the three village sections were included in the sunvey. In selecting the sample units a map of all the houses and lanes in each section was first drawn, and then every first and second house was marked out in advance. If the head, or a responsible member, of the selected household was not available for the interview, as it frequently happened, then the next household was chosen. The survey, then was de• signed to elicit the household attitude, not individual attitudes. The techniques of research were varied, ranging from the administration of questionnares to 100 individuals dividing into various groups by sex, age and career, to investigation of various institutional aspects of life, to interview and participant observation; and to the use of case histories to provide further insight into the principles which regulate community life. The field study was started on 20th of December 1971 by devoting the first week to establishing rapport with the village residents and preparing the research team of whom six were local monks, three from the Ubol main town and two from Bangkok including the author and Nr. Alan John Adam, the English friend who closely assisted the author throughout the field work. vi After a socio-economic survey in the following two weeks, the research was continued by, one month later, another interview survey focussed on leadership, village organisation, problems, and relevant attitudes of the people. After two months, the research operation in the field came to an end, and then the author returned to the University of Durham at the end of February, 1972. The author's interest in development is real, but untrained. Nevertheless the author has had some experience through serving as consultant to the Buddhist Co-ordination Centre in the North East for Sangha social services, acting as an advisor to the Buddhist Centres;.in.;the ,six'provinces.. and participating in various seminars for the Sangha social service of the Department of Religious Affairs, and serving, as executive secretary of the Ubol Buddhist Study Centre. The author lists these institutions only to establish his own credentials and not to imply that their officers share any of the author's opinions. It was that the study as a whole was largely concerned with basic, traditional practices and attitudes rather than with fleeting opinions and views. In many cases, this study was not based on the attitude survey, data alone. In many crucial parts of the analysis^ Chapter ill and IY particularly heavy reliance was placed on the author's direct practical experience, together v/ith findings and observations contained in studied by others. vii I use throughout the volume transliterated Thai words where there are no precise equivalents in English. A'mphur, Tambon, Ban, Baht are used, for example. Since Thai does not pluralise by adding n's"\ the words are unchanged for either the singular or plural forms, and such words as well as their explanation in English are listed in pages xiv-xvi This thesis also contains several maps, pictures, figures and tables. It is hoped that this study may contribute towards the right understanding of the various aspects of the village life in rural areas as they really are in present Thai society. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS; During two years that this thesis has been in prepar• ation I have received much advice, encouragment and practical assistance from a variety of different people whose kindness it is my pleasure to acknowledge, i Thanks are due to Prof.