New Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter of controversial billionaire and former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, yesterday vowed to boost the kingdom’s sluggish economy as she formally took office.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, at 37 the kingdom’s youngest ever prime minister, comes to power after a court sacked the previous prime minister and disbanded the main opposition party, throwing Thailand’s ever-febrile political scene into fresh turmoil.
She is the third Shinawatra to be prime minister, but her father and aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra, were both thrown out of power in military coups.
Photo: Bloomberg
Paetongtarn Shinawatra yesterday accepted Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s official written command to form a government in a ceremony at the headquarters of a TV station that used to support her father.
She called on all Thais to work together to help revitalize the country’s economy, which has struggled to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As head of the government, I will work with parliament with an open heart, open to all ideas to help develop the country,” she said after the ceremony.
“Fellow Thais, this duty cannot be done by the prime minister alone. I hope I will be able to coordinate the power of all generations, all talented people in Thailand — from the cabinet, the coalition, civil servants, private sector and the people,” she said.
Thaksin Shinawatra, 75, was a prominent attendee at the ceremony, standing alongside Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s husband in the front row.
“She has to work hard. Her strong point is that she is young, she can ask anyone for help — she is humble,” her father told reporters after the ceremony. “Twenty-three years ago she was standing behind my back, but today I was standing behind her.”
Paetongtarn Shinawatra heads a coalition government led by her Pheu Thai party — the latest incarnation of the political movement founded by her father in the early 2000s — but including some pro-military groups long opposed to her father.
She is a relative newcomer, running the hotel arm of the family business until late 2022 when she entered politics ahead of last year’s general election — where Pheu Thai was unexpectedly beaten into second place by the progressive Move Forward Party.
She told reporters at a news conference that she would seek her father’s advice when needed, but insisted she was independent of him, with her own ideas and goals.
Asked if he would take an official role as her adviser, Thaksin Shinawatra said: “Not neccessary. I am old. I am 75 years old, she can ask me anything.”
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