Observers can hardly see how the one who had become 37 years old on August 18, 2024, the youngest Prime Minister of Thailand and the second woman to hold the post after her aunt, Yingluck Shinawatra, could get out of business. On the one hand, the ethical arguments invoked against it are identical to those who had already been raised before the Constitutional Court against its predecessor, Srettha Thavisin, remained only at the head of the government. Then, the Bhumjaithai, a coalition partner of his party, Pheu Thai, defeated and exposes, if necessary, Paetongtarn to a vote of distrust in Parliament as soon as the procedure before the Court is finished.
Experienced businesswoman, Paetongtarn was trained in political science at the prestigious Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, but also graduated in hotel management at the English University of Surrey. She made an improbable Prime Minister, even if it belongs to what has become a political dynasty since Thaksin Shinawatra, of which she is the youngest girl, ruled the kingdom from 2001 to 2006. Her aunt Yingluck was, meanwhile, to the maneuver from 2011 to 2014.
Thailand: the Constitutional Court suspends Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra
A fatal phone call to Hun Sen
If the Shinawatra clan has deeply divided Thailand from its emergence into politics, opposing the elites of Bangkok, the capital and only metropolis of the country, and the popular masses of the countryside, it is not in this cleavage that the source of the setback of Paetongtarn must be sought. Their origin is at least singular since it concerns a phone call exchanged, on June 15, with the Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen, after a border incident which caused the death of a Cambodian soldier.
The registration of this interview has, allegedly, “avoid any misunderstanding”, was made public by Hun Sen. Paetongtarn is criticized, by his detractors, for having treated the latter with too much deference and, above all, for having lacked respect for the Thai army by denigrating one of its regional commanders, held responsible for the incident. The Prime Minister is not only accused of weakness, while the soldiers would like to defend a hard line, but is also suspected of having wanted to preserve the lucrative family relations with the Khmer kingdom. The interested party denies it by ensuring that she intended to exploit her personal relations to quickly find a diplomatic outcome in the crisis.
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