A new province far from worries?
The proposal is not new, but it’s being pushed again: unifying Hua Hin and Cha-Am in a same, new province. The project dates back from 2003, under Thaksin’s administration, but it had been shelved until recently. The idea is to make things easier for people conducting business in an area which has known a rapid economic boom over the last several years. But the proposal meets a strong opposition from local leaders and local population. MPs from both Phetchaburi (Cha-Am’s province) and Prachuap Khiri Khan (Hua Hin’s province) are concerned that it will remain not much of the two provinces if Cha-Am and Hua Hin are taken away. People fear that the new province will drain up human resources and state funding, thus depriving the outlying areas. They also point that each province has its own cultural identity and that they are not willing to merge.
Most people here in Cha-Am are not worried and are convinced that the project will never see the light of day, precisely because it meets too strong an opposition. But whether it happens or not, there is already a proposal for a name: the new province would be called Klai Kang Won, which means “far from worries”. It is named after Klai Kang Won Palace, built in Hua Hin in 1928 under the reign of King Rama VII, as a summertime retreat for the royal household. If the province is actually created, it would be the 77th province of Thailand. But some people, like Hua Hin’s mayor, suggest that Hua Hin be only upgraded to a “special administrative entity”, like Bangkok and Pattaya, to have more independence in the way it is administrated.
