Let's h return now to the news that the
Thai prime minister Petan Shinowat has
been removed from office over a
controversial phone call. Our Southeast
Asia correspondent Jonathan Head joins
us live from the Thailand Cambodia
border and this was a phone call with
the former Cambodian leader Jonathan
just remind us briefly of what it
entailed.
I mean Peton Chinawad is is quite an
inexperienced character in politics
anyway she became prime minister last
year largely because she's her father's
daughter Taxin Chinawad is the main
power behind her party it when the Thai
border um dispute with Cambodia here
started to heat up um in sort of May
June she had a phone call with Hunen
who's really the dominant power here in
Cambodia in which she thought it was
confidential she essentially appealed to
him as an old friend of her fathers they
are long-standing family friends to help
her solve the problem. Said she'd do
anything to try and make things easier
and criticized her own army commander,
the commander just on the other side of
the border from where I am, saying
actually, you know, he's opposing my
government. Now, I think there's no
secret that her government and the army
don't get on and she's defended herself
by saying, you know, that I I was trying
to sort of help resolve the problem. U
but the judges didn't buy that defense
at all. They essentially said that she
had failed to maintain the country's
national pride and that she'd put
personal interest that was a hint
towards uh the business interests of her
her her party and her family uh before
those of the nation. Now she is the
fifth prime minister to be sacked by the
constitutional court. Dozens of
politicians, many political parties have
also been dismissed by the court. She's
only she's the second prime minister
from this party to be dismissed in just
a year. So it shows that this court, the
constitutional court is enormously
powerful in Thailand and intervenes
constantly where it sees ethics being
violated, which is what it saw this
time. And it leaves Thailand now in a
very unstable position because frankly
there isn't a very obvious successor to
Petongtown. There's a very limited
choice of candidates they'll now have to
choose from.
>> And what are the main political
priorities for the country at the
moment?
>> Quite simple. Stability. There's not
stability in Thailand. Obviously, a lot
of instability and a much better
economy. The economy has been stagnating
for a long time. Petong Tan's party and
her father Taxin, their whole MMO, their
whole brand has been that they can
revive the economy. So, when they
managed to cobble together this
coalition government two years ago by
pushing aside the reformist party, which
had actually got the most seats in the
election, they promised they would do
that. In two years, they haven't. So,
she doesn't lead a popular government
anyway. her majority has been whittleled
right down. It's very chaotic. I think a
lot of ties are just weary. Um, and I
think weary not just by the squabbbling
of politicians and their failure to
deliver, but weary about the fact that
every time an election delivers a
result, it's usually the courts and
unelected bodies who decide who governs
the country and not generally the will
of the people.
>> Jonathan, for the moment, thank you very
much, Jonathan. Ahead. Well, there's a
live page uh that you can uh access on
the BBC News website or the app, and
there's reaction to the Thai prime
minister being ousted from office.