Pheu Thai’s Srettha rules out working with Prayut and Prawit
Srettha Thavisin, one of Pheu Thai Party’s three prime ministerial candidates, has told US-based media that he will decline the PM seat if his party has to form a coalition government with the support of incumbent government leader Prayut Chan-o-cha or his deputy, Prawit Wongsuwan.
In his interview with Voice of America (VOA), the property tycoon-turned-politician said: “The idea of me working with them in the same government, sitting in the same Cabinet … I can't see myself doing that.”
“I don't believe in military coups,” he said.
General Prayut, while serving as the Army commander-in-chief, had staged a military coup in May 2014 that overthrew a Pheu Thai-led government. He later became prime minister in a post-coup junta, which included General Prawit as the defence minister.
In the previous election in March 2019, Prayut was nominated as the sole PM candidate of the pro-military Palang Pracharath Party, which managed to form the current coalition government. Palang Pracharath is now led by Prawit.
Srettha said he wants to be a prime minister who can make huge difference to Thai society economically and socially.
“If the environment is not conducive for me to do that, I would gladly turn down the position of prime minister,” he said. “I want to be prime minister, but not just for the sake of being a prime minister.”
The 60-year-old political newbie told CNN that he was not a loyalist of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is generally viewed as Pheu Thai’s patriarch, although he has known him for decades.
Thaksin’s youngest daughter Paetongtarn is also the party’s PM candidate. Chaikasem Nitisiri, a former attorney-general and justice minister, is the party's third PM candidate.
Srettha says he is keen to focus on fixing Thailand’s income inequality, promote LGBTQ+ rights including same-sex marriage, root out corruption, and put the country back on the world stage.
“I want to be a prime minister who can make the difference,” Srettha told CNN. “We really need to be boosting foreign activities. We need to go out and talk to the world. We need to sell Thailand. What are the advantages of investing in Thailand? What do we have to offer the world?”
He said that Thailand has been in a “bad economic situation” for the last eight years under Prayut’s rule.
“We are kind of in a coma. You need a big economic stimulus policy just to get them back on their feet and start being economic producing members of society again,” he said.
Srettha is among leading PM candidates in recent opinion surveys, which also predict Pheu Thai’s likelihood of winning most MP seats in Sunday’s general election.
He was fourth in a Nida Poll survey released on May 3, which found that Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat, who got 35.4% of support, followed by Paetongtarn (29.2%), Prayut (14.8%), and Srettha (6.8%).
Srettha told VOA that the despair he felt for the country led him into politics.
“I feel saddened by what I see. Because of social disparity, in terms of education, in terms of getting healthcare, in terms of basic things like getting food on the table, it's still not the way it's supposed to be for a country that has enormous potential like Thailand,” he said.
Srettha said he felt more motivated to be in politics after seeing the adverse effects of the Covid-19 crisis on Thailand.
“What gravitated me towards Pheu Thai is that they have the people’s interests at heart. They didn’t really actively persuade me to join. It’s more like we mutually agreed,” he said.
