00:00Thai Prime Minister Pei Tong Tan Shinawat has apologized after a leaked phone call with former Cambodian leader Han Sen, an incident that now threatens to bring down her government.
00:11Reporting from the 38th Asia Pacific Roundtable, Pei Kuan speaks to Dr. Fuwadi Pitsuan, President of the Surin Pitsuan Foundation, on how this situation might unfold.
00:51How the Thai Prime Minister Pei Tong Tan Shinawat now faces mounting calls to resign after a leaked phone call with former Cambodian leader Han Sen.
01:01Now, it's triggered anger within the country. Of course, a key coalition partner has left and other coalition parties are set to meet to discuss the situation.
01:10I'm curious for your comments, what is the likelihood of Thailand heading towards a snap election just barely two years after the last one?
01:18I think the possibility is real, is there. But there are different scenarios that could take place.
01:26Snap election is only one of the options. And snap election would only happen if the PM chose to dissolve the parliament.
01:34But the PM could also resign, like forced to be resigned, and someone else within the same governing coalition take over.
01:42And then that could be another scenario. A third scenario is which everyone is fearful of, many people observers are fearful of, is a potential unconstitutional intervention, either from the judges or from a military faction.
01:59And I think a lot of calls now from both sides, there are those who want the military or some judiciary to step in, or those that are fearful that this would happen, this would derail democratic process.
02:13So there's this battle in the public arena as well of what the military, the independent institutions, including the military, should do in this crisis.
02:24Not wanting to let history repeat itself and not prolonging political instability that has plagued Thailand.
02:30In that sense then, how do you think, do you see the Prime Minister recovering from this, or is an eventual exit inevitable?
02:38I think it is difficult for her to recover, but just a moment ago before we conducted this interview, she came out to give a press conference with military uniform people and her cabinet members, including foreign minister, to signal some confidence and also apologize.
03:01She's playing that card that she did something wrong and then asked for forgiveness.
03:07I think that could work. I think they're trying, it's a crisis management right now, and we will see what the result of it.
03:15But it definitely hurts her a lot.
03:18But despite this, despite whatever the PM said in the conversation with Hun Sen, Hun Sen's role in all this should not be overlooked.
03:28His release of the tape, he posted it on Facebook and said that he sent it to 80 people.
03:35That is not something diplomatically correct.
03:41It is not an etiquette that international leadership should conduct diplomatic affairs.
03:46And that actually should inform, would inform how other ASEAN leaders engage with Hun Sen from now on, including Prime Minister Anwar and other leadership in ASEAN.
04:00If any conversation with Cambodian leadership, either Hun Manet or Hun Sen could be leaked, what does that mean in terms of Cambodia's credible commitments in any agreement, in any meetings?
04:16I think this hurts Cambodia as well.
04:19I don't think it is a win, a victory in terms of international reception, international reputation for Cambodia either.
04:28So Cambodia has a problem.
04:31Our PM has a problem.
04:33Our independent bodies, military also have an issue.
04:38So I think everyone can step back a little bit and see how this unfolds and see the misstep, the mismanagement.
04:47And I hope everyone learn from this crisis.
04:50Definitely.
04:51We will be closely monitoring for future developments.
04:53Thank you so much, Dr. Fuwadi.
04:55Stay tuned.
04:56More for us from the 38th Asia-Pacific Roundtable.
05:00Hafiz, back to you in the studio.
Comments