BANGKOK — Thailand’s fragile democracy hung in the balance Tuesday after embattled Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was suspended while the country’s high court weighs allegations that her criticism of a Royal Thai Army commander endangered national security.
Ms. Paetongtarn, 38, is accused of undermining Thailand in comments captured on a phone call with Cambodia’s de facto leader Hun Sen in which they discussed a deadly border clash. The taped call was later leaked.
“I want to apologize to people who are upset by all of this,” Ms. Paetongtarn told reporters after the court suspended her. “I will continue to work for the country as a Thai citizen.
“I insist I had no ill intentions,” she said.
The prime minister, the latest member of a prominent Thai family to hold the office, has 15 days to defend herself in court.
She is also the country’s latest democratically elected leader to run afoul of the royalist military, which has twice overthrown governments connected to Ms. Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin Shinawatra, a twice-elected former prime minister and political power broker.
On Monday, she told journalists, “I will let the process take its course. If you are asking whether I am worried, I am.”
She appointed Deputy Prime Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit as caretaker prime minister of Buddhist-majority Thailand, a U.S. ally, while the court deliberates the case, which could take several weeks.
The court’s nine judges voted unanimously to consider a petition by 36 appointed, pro-military senators accusing Ms. Paetongtarn of “lacking integrity” and “ethical misconduct” while speaking to Mr. Hun Sen during the ongoing border feud between the countries, and voted 7-2 to immediately suspend her from the prime ministry.
Audio from the June 15 call exposed her criticism of Thailand’s Second Army Region commander, Lt. Gen. Boonsin Padklang.
Gen. Boonsin’s troops guard northeastern Thailand’s entire border with Cambodia, including the disputed Emerald Triangle zone where Thai troops shot dead a Cambodian soldier during a brief clash on May 28.
In the leaked call — which the prime minister herself later confirmed — Ms. Paetongtarn referred to Mr. Hun Sen, a longtime family friend, “uncle,” and said she did not want him “to listen to the opposing side, especially since the [Thai] Second Army Region commander is entirely from the opposition.
“He [the Thai commander] just wants to appear cool or impressive. He may say [hawkish] things that are not beneficial to the country,” Ms. Paetongtarn said during her call.
The conservative Bangkok Post described her comments as “derogatory” and criticized her “submissive tone … signaling a readiness to comply with the Cambodian strongman’s demands.”
Hours before the court’s ruling, Ms. Paetongtarn took on a dual role and named herself minister of culture, in a move widely seen as an attempt to remain in her fragile coalition government so she can continue to influence this Southeast Asian nation while the court decides her fate.
In other last-minute changes to her Cabinet before her suspension, Ms. Paetongtarn promoted an army general to deputy defense minister, apparently to placate the U.S.-trained military.
Ms. Paetongtarn’s next test to her political survival comes Thursday when she faces a no-confidence vote in parliament, where she has a razor-slim majority.
The pro-military Bhumjaithai (Proud to be Thai) Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul quit Ms. Paetongtarn’s coalition government and moved his 69 parliamentarians into the opposition after Ms. Paetongtarn’s leaked call.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission, the Election Commission and the Central Investigation Bureau are separately due to also hear allegations that her conversation with Mr. Hun Sen may have violated the constitution and threatened Thailand’s security.
The Constitutional Court in recent years has booted three prime ministers and banned two others from political power.
In 2024, the Constitutional Court found Thaksin-backed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin guilty of ethical violations after he appointed ex-convict Pichit Chuenban as a Cabinet minister.
The court dissolved the youth-led, anti-military Future Forward Party in 2020 because of an illegal loan received by the party’s then-leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit.
In 2019, the court dissolved the Thai Raksa Chart Party because it nominated Princess Ubolratana to be a prime ministerial candidate, violating a taboo against involving the royal family in politics.
The court in 2011 ended the prime ministry of Ms. Paetongtarn’s aunt Yingluck Shinawatra, currently an international fugitive, for nepotism after she promoted a relative to be Thailand’s national police chief.
The Constitutional Court ousted the late Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej in 2008 because of a conflict of interest after he received money from hosting a TV cooking show.
Ms. Paetongtarn, 36, is widely perceived as a pliant proxy of her influential father, who will be 76 in July.
Thai media describe Mr. Thaksin as the “de facto boss of the Pheu Thai Party” which is officially led by his daughter atop an uneasy ruling coalition that includes pro-military parties.
Mr. Thaksin meanwhile, arrived at Bangkok’s Criminal Court on Tuesday to hear allegations that he expressed criticism of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej in 2015, one year before the revered monarch died.
Les majeste — insulting the king or the royal family — is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Mr. Thaksin denied the charges.
The Criminal Court’s verdict concerning Mr. Thaksin is expected to be announced in several weeks.
In 2006, Mr. Thaksin was toppled by the military in a bloodless coup and stayed overseas for 15 years, dodging prison sentences for financial corruption during his administration.
Thailand and Cambodia are embroiled in a deadly clash over their disputed frontier, in the jungle and scrubland of the Emerald Triangle where eastern Thailand, northern Cambodia, and southern Laos meet.
Both sides blame each other for initiating hostilities on the frontier, politicizing the feud and whipping up aggressive nationalism, which escalated throughout June into border closures and boycotts of imports and exports.
On June 28, more than 10,000 anti-Thaksin, pro-military protesters gathered in Bangkok’s grimy streets at Victory Monument, demanding that Ms. Paetongtarn resign because of her leaked call.