The Southeast Asian nation of Thailand is undergoing a major political turmoil, where the nation has witnessed three Prime Ministers’ in 3 days. The political upheaval is an outgrowth of the border tensions with Cambodia and the consequent phone calls between the ousted Thai PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Cambodian leader. The nation is also boiling under intense anti-government protests over the leaked phone call that put Thailand’s sovereignty and security at stake.
Unexpected and untimely regime change is not new to Thailand’s political landscape. The country which runs under constitutional monarchy since 1932 is in itself a byproduct of a military coup. Since then, the nation has witnessed nearly 12 successful military coups and regime changes, predominantly stimulated by the elite conservative or the royalist political factions of the country. However, the latest political row and change of Prime Ministers’ is an impact of the border tension escalated with Cambodia.
What Led to the Change of Leadership?
Cambodia is the Southeast neighbour of Thailand and both nations share a long 800km border. The nations have border disputes over several areas all along the border such as the Preah Vihear Temple, Emarald Traingle and other regions, which is more than a century old. Cambodia even took the border dispute to the International Court of Justice(ICJ), however Thailand doesn’t recognize the ICJ verdict. In the year 2000, both the nations established Joint Border Commission, but there are little to no progress.
In the latest phase of outbreak, Thailand and Cambodia exchanged gunfire in the disputed Chong Bok Pass border region that led to the death of a Cambodian soldier in the month of May. Few days after the border clash, the Cambodian side leaked an audio clip in which the then-Prime Minister of Thailand Paetongtarn Shinawatra is begging the Cambodian leader over a phone call on June 18th. Shinawatra has addressed the President of Cambodia Hun Sen as ‘Uncle’ and she has vowed to ‘take care of anything he wants’. More humiliating aspect is, over the phone call with her Cambodian counterpart, Shinawatra has accused Thailand’s Army Commander as responsible for the border dispute and has cited that the Army Commander is siding with the opposition party of Thailand.
This leaked phone conversation stimulated the political uproar in Thailand. Soon after the audio leak, the second-largest party of the ruling coalition of Thailand withdrew their support for the government and accused Shinawatra government for ‘compromising Thailand’s honor, national dignity, people and military’. Following this, a group of senators appealed to the Constitutional Court to remove Shinawatra from power. Consequently, she was suspended by the constitutional court.
Thereby, the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand Suriya Jungrungreangkit took charge as the Prime Minister of the nation. But, he could sustain only for a day. The next day, the ruling coalition appointed the Interior Minister Phumtham Wechayachai as the Prime Minister, who is a key political kingpin of the country. And in a major turn of events, as the investigation over the leaked phone call is still underway, Paetongtarn Shinawatra has returned to the interim government as cultural minister, as the cabinet reshuffle was undertaken by the new Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai.
Spiking Economic Crisis amidst Political Backlash
The political uproar ignited by a leaked phone call is coupled with economic crisis. Thailand’s economy is already shrinking and people are extremely unhappy. Adding to this burden, the Cambodian administration has threatened to stop fuel, gas and agricultural imports from Thailand, leaving the Thai economy and people’s life at crossroads. Cambodia and Thailand has a bilateral trade of $10.4 billion and these economic restrictions from Cambodia can push the Thai economy into further deterioration.
The political instability, ambition for power, chances of military takeover of the administration accompanied by economic downturn is ultimately pushing the lives of common people of Thailand under doldrums who are agitating and protesting on the streets against the misdeeds of the government.
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