BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra apologized on Thursday for a leaked phone call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen that has provoked widespread anger and put her government on the brink of collapse.
Her main coalition partner has quit and she faces calls to resign or hold an election, throwing the kingdom into a fresh round of political instability as it seeks to boost its spluttering economy and avoid US President Donald Trump’s swingeing trade tariffs.
The conservative Bhumjaithai party pulled out on Wednesday, saying Paetongtarn’s conduct in the leaked call had wounded the country and the army’s dignity.
As pressure grew on Thursday, Paetongtarn apologized at a news conference alongside military chiefs and senior figures from her Pheu Thai party.
“I would like to apologize for the leaked audio of my conversation with a Cambodian leader which has caused public resentment,” Paetongtarn told reporters.
The 38-year-old is the daughter of billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand’s most influential but controversial modern politician.
Paetongtarn is heard in the call discussing an ongoing border dispute with Hun Sen, who still holds wide powers in Cambodia despite leaving office in 2023.
She addresses the veteran leader as “uncle” and refers to the Thai army commander in the country’s northeast as her opponent, a remark that sparked fierce criticism on social media.
The Thai foreign ministry summoned the Cambodian ambassador on Thursday to deliver a letter complaining about the leaking of the call.
The loss of Bhumjaithai’s 69 MPs left Paetongtarn with barely enough votes to scrape a majority in parliament and a snap election looks a clear possibility — barely two years after the last one in May 2023.
Two other coalition parties, the United Thai Nation and the Democrat Party, will hold meetings to discuss the situation later Thursday.
Paetongtarn will be hoping her apology and public show of unity with the military are enough to persuade them to stay on board.
Losing either would likely mean the end of her government and either an election or a bid by other parties to stitch together a new coalition.
Thailand’s military said in a statement that army chief General Pana Claewplodtook “affirms commitment to democratic principles and national sovereignty protection.”
“The Chief of Army emphasized that the paramount imperative is for ‘Thai people to stand united’ in collectively defending national sovereignty,” it said.
Thailand’s armed forces have long played a powerful role in the kingdom’s politics and politicians are usually careful not to antagonize them.
Thailand has suffered a dozen coups since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932, and the current crisis has inevitably triggered rumors that another may be in the offing.
Such an outcome would make Paetongtarn the third member of her family, after her aunt Yingluck and father Thaksin, to be kicked out of office by the military.
The main opposition People’s Party, which won the most seats in 2023 but was blocked by conservative senators from forming a government, urged Paetongtarn to call an election.
“What happened yesterday was a leadership crisis that destroyed people’s trust,” People’s Party leader Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut said in a statement.
The Palang Pracharath party, which led the government up to 2023, said the leaked recording showed Paetongtarn was weak and inexperienced, incapable of managing the country’s security.
Hundreds of anti-government protesters, some of them veterans of the royalist, anti-Thaksin “Yellow Shirt” movement of the late 2000s, demonstrated outside Government House on Thursday demanding that Paetongtarn quit.
Thai PM apologizes as crisis threatens to topple government
https://arab.news/w4kqp
Thai PM apologizes as crisis threatens to topple government
- The loss of Bhumjaithai’s 69 MPs left Paetongtarn with barely enough votes to scrape a majority in parliament and a snap election looks a clear possibility — barely two years after the last one in May 2023.
- The conservative Bhumjaithai party, Pheu Thai’s biggest partner, pulled out on Wednesday
Multiple victims reported in shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island
PROVIDENCE, R.I.: Multiple people were shot Saturday in the area of Brown University, police said, as the Ivy League school issued an active shooter alert and urged students and staff to take shelter during the second day of final exams.
Police did not immediately release details about the number of victims, their conditions or the circumstances of the shooting.
University officials initially told students and staff that a suspect was in custody, before later saying that was not the case and that police were still searching for a suspect or suspects, according to alerts issued through Brown’s emergency notification system.
The reported shooting occurred near the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the university’s School of Engineering and physics department. According to the university’s website, the building includes more than 100 laboratories, dozens of classrooms and offices.
President Donald Trump said late in the afternoon that he has been briefed on the shooting.
“God bless the victims and the families of the victims!” he said on his social media site.
Students were urged to shelter in place as police responded to the scene, and people were told to avoid the area. A police officer warned media to take cover in vehicles because the area was still an active scene.
Officials cautioned that information remained preliminary as investigators worked to determine what had occurred.
Police were actively investigating and still gathering information from the scene, said Kristy DosReis, the chief public information officer for the city of Providence. The FBI said it was assisting in the response.
Brown is a private institution with roughly 7,300 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate students. Saturday was the second day of final exams for the fall semester.
