However, the current selection system has been in place for decades and any mooted change will inevitably be met with resistance.

At present, provincial governors are appointed from within the ranks of Interior Ministry administrators, with candidates judged on seniority and capability. All have climbed the long ministry ladder of civil service, serving in a variety of positions. Bureaucratic traditions within the Interior Ministry reach back more than 120 years ago and are among the strongest of any state agency.

Previous attempts to change the selection process for provincial governors have included proposing mayoral elections for large provinces. But all have failed after encountering resistance from the Interior Ministry and its powerful bureaucratic network covering the entire country.

In the latest challenge to the status quo, Somkid is proposing that provincial governors be handed longer terms of four to five years, in order to complete special economic missions. Government plans to stimulate the economy by injecting state funds into the provinces require “true managers” who can efficiently turn budgets worth hundreds of millions of baht into development for their provinces.

Somkid wants his idea to first be applied to large provinces and those with special economic zones.

The proposal would be a radical change from the Interior Ministry’s existing practice of recruiting from within the centralised civil service. Ministry appointees are often criticised for failing to understand the special problems of the provinces to which they are assigned and thus failing to come up with the right solutions.

Somkid’s proposal shares similarities with a previous idea for “CEO governors” who could manage provincial matters and implement government policy in the manner of top executives in the private sector.

However, his “professional managers” would need to focus on far more than just economic development.

Provincial governors are also tasked with security, tackling crime, public health and dealing with natural disasters. Such wide-ranging jurisdiction requires managers of a special breed, with experience that goes far beyond economic matters.

Also, as the top state official in a province, a governor needs the support and acceptance of both local residents and other ministries working under their jurisdiction. A selection process that lacks transparency could lead to allegations of favouritism and dent the credibility of appointed governors.

The first task of reformers is to remove the bureaucratic obstacles in the powerful Interior Ministry. Unless this is done, the “professional managers” will still be selected from within the ministry, and Somkid’s idea will fall at the first hurdle.

Failure is made even more likely by the fact that most members of the post-coup government have spent their entire careers in the bureaucracy, unlike Somkid, who has a background in the private sector. Don’t bet on his proposal being put into action.