Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittipunt said today (Friday) that he has his own style of working, which is to go directly to see the problems at first hand, to meet with the people to find out what their problems are and to try to solve them.
His statement was, apparently, in response to recent criticism on social media, asking why the governor has to push a cart, which is not supposed to be the work of a governor.
“I did not visit an area just to push a cart, but because the cart was out of order and what I could do to help was to help push the cart. There was no big deal,” he told a Thai PBS reporter.
He said, however, that he is always ready to listen to criticism, as he insisted that what he has been doing, in his style over the past three months as governor, is to communicate to the people that he places importance on the people, on every problem and makes inspection trips to areas where the problems are, even at night.
The governor insisted that, whenever he visits an area in the capital, there are usually district officials from the area with him and he does not issue orders to them because “that is not my duty, but I ask people in the area what their problems are.”
He said he would not have known what the problem with the Lat Phrao canal was, or what the problems for Bangkok residents are if he had not carried out on-the-spot inspections.
“This my working style. It is OK if there are people who don’t like it, but they may have to wait and elect another person who has a different working style, but this is my style,” said the governor.
For instance, regarding the flooding in the city, Governor Chadchart said that, to solve the problem, it is not just about pumping excess water out of flooded areas, but there are other related aspects, such as directing traffic, providing transport to help stranded commuters and publicity to warn people of areas they should avoid.
He cited the case of troops providing free transport to stranded commuters in the Bang Khen area on Wednesday night, when the area was heavily flooded, saying that the troops did not even have a loud hailer to inform the people about the free transport service or to where the trucks will go, hence, many people were reluctant to use the service.
“If we had not visited the area personally, we would not have known about this petty problem. It would be much easier and more comfortable to just stay at home and issue orders,” said the governor.
By having his own working style, he said he hopes he will be able to set an example for district officials to do likewise, to address the problems on the spot.
