Thailand yesterday saw its third person helming the prime minister’s office in a week, as the king swore in a new Cabinet after a court decision plunged the nation’s top office into turmoil.
The prime minister’s office was upheaved on Tuesday when the Thai Constitutional Court suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra pending an ethics probe that could take months.
Power passed to Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Suriya Jungrungreangkit, who took office for only one full day, as the bombshell was dropped in an awkward interim ahead of the reshuffle.
Photo: EPA
The king yesterday morning swore in former Thai minister of defense Phumtham Wechayachai as minister of the interior, taking on a deputy prime minister role outranking Suriya’s, and thus becoming the acting prime minister.
Before Paetongtarn was ousted she assigned herself the role of culture minister in the new Cabinet, a maneuver allowing her to attend ministerial meetings while awaiting the results of a court review of her alleged misconduct.
The revolving door of leadership comes as the kingdom is battling to revive a spluttering economy and secure a US trade deal to avert US President Donald Trump’s looming threat of a 36 percent tariff.
Photo: EPA
Phumtham is considered a loyal lieutenant to the suspended Paetongtarn and her father, Thaksin Shinawatra, the powerful patriarch of a dynasty that has dominated Thai 21st-century politics.
The 71-year-old Phumtham earned the nickname “Big Comrade” for his association with a left-wing youth movement of the 1970s, but transitioned to politics through a role in Thaksin’s telecoms empire.
Paetongtarn has been hobbled over a long-standing territorial dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, which boiled over into cross-border clashes last month, killing one Cambodian soldier.
When she made a diplomatic call to former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen, she called him “uncle” and referred to a Thai military commander as her “opponent,” according to a leaked recording, causing a widespread backlash.
The Constitutional Court said there was “sufficient cause to suspect” Paetongtarn breached ministerial ethics in the diplomatic spat.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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