Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s coalition government in Thailand is teetering on the edge of collapse following the prime minister’s leaked phone call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen, but observers are mixed on whether a feared military coup will occur.
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In the leaked audio clip which emerged on Wednesday, Paetongtarn was heard addressing Hun Sen, a family friend, as “uncle” and appeared to dismiss a Thai military commander.
The clip has sparked outrage from quarters of the country’s ruling coalition, including the withdrawal of a key royalist partner group of Paetongtarn’s Pheu Thai party, as well as calls for her to resign.
“I would like to apologise for the leaked audio of my conversation with a Cambodian leader which has caused public resentment,” Paetongtarn, 38, said on Thursday.
Greg Raymond, a senior lecturer at the Australian National University’s Coral Bell School of Asia-Pacific Affairs, said he had heard the leaked call, which might “spell the end” for Paetongtarn, adding however: “I suspect no coup will take place.”
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“It’s a typical rumour and although I might be wrong, it will be fairly easy for the Pheu Thai government to be brought down now by other means,” he said, pointing to options that included judicially or through a parliamentary shake-up.
