Thai PM to meet army commander to defuse political crisis
Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra will on Friday visit an army commander she called an "opponent" in a leaked phone call as she battles to defuse a crisis threatening to topple her government.
The 38-year-old leader, in office for less than a year, was forced to make a public apology on Thursday as anger flared over the call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen that appeared online.
Her main coalition partner, the conservative Bhumjaithai party, pulled out on Wednesday saying she had insulted the country and the army, putting her government on the point of collapse.
There was better news for Paetongtarn, daughter of controversial billionaire ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra, on Friday as another important coalition partner, the conservative Democrat Party, pledged to stay.
"The Democrat Party will remain in the government to help resolve the challenges the country is currently facing," the party said in a statement.
Another coalition party, Chartthaipattana, said late on Thursday that it would not withdraw, after urgent talks on the crisis with the Democrats and the United Thai Nation (UTN) party.
With the departure of Bhumjaithai, the government led by Paetongtarn's Pheu Thai party now holds a razor-thin majority in parliament.
Losing another major partner would likely see the government collapse, plunging the kindgom into fresh political instability as it grapples with a stuttering economy and US President Donald Trump's threatened trade tariffs.
- Apology -
Paetongtarn will travel to Thailand's northeast on Friday to patch things up with Lieutenant General Boonsin Padklang, the commander of the forces in northeast Thailand, where the border clashes took place.
She referred to Boonsin as her "opponent" in the leaked call with Hun Sen, in which the two leaders discussed the ongoing border dispute.
Thailand has formally protested to Cambodia about the leak, calling it a breach of diplomatic protocol that had damaged trust between the two sides.
Paetongtarn was criticised as being weak and deferential in the call with Hun Sen, a veteran politician known as a wily operator, but her comments about the army commander were potentially the most damaging to her.
Thailand's armed forces have long played a powerful role in the kingdom's politics and politicians are usually careful not to antagonise them.
When she made her public apology for the leaked call on Thursday, Paetongtarn did so standing in front of army and police chiefs, in a show of unity.
There were small street protests on Thursday and calls from across the political spectrum for her to quit or announce an election, but her apology and backing from some of her coalition partners appear to have shored up her position for now.
But with a tiny majority she remains vulnerable, not least because of the awkward nature of her coalition.
Paetongtarn took office in August last year at the head of an uneasy alliance between Pheu Thai and a group of conservative, pro-military parties whose members have spent much of the past 20 years battling against her father.
Thaksin, twice elected PM, was thrown out in a military coup in 2006, and the bitter tussle between the conservative, royalist establishment and the political movement he founded has dominated Thai politics throughout that time.
Former Manchester City owner Thaksin, 75, still enjoys huge support from the rural base whose lives he transformed with populist policies in the early 2000s.
But he is despised by Thailand's powerful elites, who saw his rule as corrupt, authoritarian and socially destabilising.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sky News AU
2 hours ago
- Sky News AU
‘Draconian' Victorian Government imposes hefty fine for farmers
Victoria Shadow Treasurer James Newbury says the Victorian Government is telling farmers they will be fined $12,210 if they block transmission companies land access. 'It's shocking and they're doing this not just to regional Victoria, but also in the city,' Mr Newbury told Sky News host Steve Price. 'The government is taking over planning controls … now saying to farmers we're going to come along with a massive stick if you say no. 'What the government's doing is draconian.'
ABC News
9 hours ago
- ABC News
As Iran and Israel fighting rages, many people face a difficult choice
For some people in Iran and Israel, the past week of fighting between their two countries has posed a difficult question: stay, or leave? Choosing the former usually means living with an ever-present risk of serious injury or death. At best? Survival and constant anxiety. Seeking to leave your home to find safer areas — elsewhere in the country or abroad — may seem an obvious option, but there are multiple reasons why it's not one available to everyone. It often represents a logistical nightmare that comes at enormous financial cost (just ask the Israelis who chartered yachts to take them on a 20-hour journey to the safety of Cyprus this week). Some residents of Tel Aviv are determined to stay in the city. However, they are moving underground to stay safe. Three generations of the Papirany family are currently living underneath one of the city's largest malls, the Dizengoff Centre. Their home is still standing. But a missile strike a few days ago hit buildings a couple of hundred metres away and they are worried about being caught short in future. "I've never heard anything like it before, there were like several jets up ahead, like a dog fight was going on, and we heard lots of booms," Tracey Papirany said. "And then next minute, such a loud boom that everyone yelled and grabbed each other." When the ABC visited the car park, people's mobile phones started chirping with advance warning of a missile strike, which comes from an official Israeli government app. "We put on a show, just for you," Mali, Tracey's daughter, quipped. "This is our everyday life, it's the reality here and that's what we accept when we come here. "We know what we're coming into and we live with it each day now." Maya Papirany, Mali's sister, said she had copped abuse from her friends for moving to Israel. She had been living in New Zealand with her two young children while her parents were in Australia. When they moved to Israel, she followed. "I made that decision knowing that there was a war, but I knew that I had no choice, there was nothing else I could do, it was my sanity, my mental health and doing what I thought was best for the children at the time," she said. "And since moving over, people have been messaging me saying, how could you bring your children to this war? How could you do this to them?" While the Papiranys brought their own bedding, the shopping centre's management is also sourcing supplies. "We're also bringing them tents and mattresses, so people will come here every night, just for the night, from 6pm to 9 in the morning after," Dizengoff centre chief executive Dan Pilz said. "And then they can spend the night safely, not be worrying about taking the kids to run during the bombs. "Without tents and mattresses, 4,000 or 5,000 people can stay here, [with tents] we believe we can contain around 100 or 150 families." Almost 1,500 kilometres away, in Iran, Israel's attacks over the past week have sparked a rush at many of the country's land borders as people attempt to flee. With airports shuttered, hours-long traffic jams clogged roads out of the capital, Tehran. Some were headed for more isolated areas, particularly in the country's north, while others, like Barry Jahed, 34, and his father, Parvis, wanted out altogether. Both men are British-Iranian and live in London. Parvis had been working on a film in Iran and had been based there for several months at the time of the latest attacks, while Barry had arrived in the country to visit family in May. After several days of moving between various locations — including a particularly distressing night at a relative's home, which was punctuated by "a series of air raids and explosions", according to Barry — the pair decided to head for the country's border with Türkiye. That meant convincing a stranger to drive them north. "We didn't get to say goodbye to family members or anything like that. We made a rush to the border in this car," Barry told the ABC. They relied on connections to beat large queues at petrol stations, and eventually used a border crossing that's typically reserved for freight. Once in Türkiye, Barry and his father combined with a group of around 16 other people in the same position to rent a dilapidated minibus in an attempt to drive towards Istanbul and its major international airport. After multiple mechanical issues, that trip took about 24 hours. "We had a young girl sit up front, and she was the DJ and put on music, and we listened to some songs and tried to make it as enjoyable as possible, as uncomfortable as the journey was," Barry said. After boarding a flight in Istanbul, Barry and Parvis are now back in London. But their concerns about the situation in Iran remain ever-present. "I'm worried about not just the bombings, but also the further consequences of shortages of fuel and therefore food," Barry said. His elderly grandmother is among the many people who cannot leave. "She's not able to move around very much," Barry said. "If there is some kind of shortages, this could very much be bad for her health." While Barry may be safe, his anxiety looks likely to continue as fighting rages into a second week. And if the rhetoric from leaders in both Israel and Iran is anything to go by, the end of hostilities could be a long way off.
ABC News
10 hours ago
- ABC News
Donald Trump says Gabbard was 'wrong' about Iran's nuclear threat
US President Donald Trump says his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard was wrong in suggesting there is no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon.
