Time magazine spotlights ‘Salesman’ Srettha with wide-ranging interview

“I want to tell the world that Thailand is open for business again,” Srettha tells Time’s Charlie Campbell, during a wide-ranging interview held in a Government House room “ringed by whiteboards chock-full of scrawled policy objectives: digital wallets, national aviation hubs, potash mining, Tesla”.

Srettha stares from the cover with a look of determination on his face, arms crossed over his chest.

The prime minister’s efforts since taking office last August have already paid dividends, Time says, noting that foreign direct investment in the fourth quarter of 2023 doubled from a year earlier as Amazon Web Services, Google and Microsoft inked deals worth a combined US$8.3 billion or 296 billion baht.

But Srettha has inherited a stagnating economy, soaring inequality and a politically divided country from the previous “quasi-military” government, it adds.

Thailand’s GDP growth “has been below 2% over the past decade, while neighbours like the Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam registered double to triple that rate and ate Thailand’s lunch on FDI”.

Srettha freely acknowledges the depth of his challenge, telling the American news icon that Thailand is in an “economic crisis”.

However, Time says the country feels “shortchanged by his election” after Srettha’s Pheu Thai party came second to Move Forward, which was then blocked from forming a government by a military-appointed Senate.

“The paradox is that Srettha is fighting to fix Thailand’s economy by partnering with the same forces invested in thwarting major reform,” the magazine says.

Given his controversial path to power and the dire state of the economy, the property tycoon-turned-PM is under pressure to deliver progress quickly, it adds.

The magazine also pinpoints five takeaways from the interview.

First, Srettha insisted on Thailand’s neutrality regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine and defended his decision to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Thailand when the two leaders met in Beijing in October.

Second, Srettha said he would defend the royal defamation law, or Article 112 of the criminal code, whose penalty of up to 15 years imprisonment “make it one the world’s harshest”, the magazine says.

Third, the PM wants Thailand lead efforts in resolving neighbouring Myanmar’s civil war. Thailand is establishing a humanitarian corridor on its border to deliver aid to conflict victims inside Myanmar but has also engaged with its military regime while appearing to sideline other stakeholders including the parallel civilian government.

Fourth, Srettha remains the boss – but only for now. The magazine notes a common perception that Srettha was a “compromise candidate agreed upon by Thaksin [Shinawatra] and Thailand’s military-royal establishment owing to the existential threat Move Forward’s radical agenda posed to the latter”.

But predictions that he will soon have to make way for ex-PM Thaksin’s daughter Paengtongtarn Shinawatra were shrugged off by Srettha.

“I’m sure one day she will be running for the premiership,” he tells Time. ”But during the next four years, the premiership is mine.”

The fifth takeaway is more light-hearted – Srettha’s well-known love for Liverpool Football Club. The PM offers support for the decision by Liverpool’s multi-trophy manager Jurgen Klopp to quit his post at the end of the season.

“I think he’s leaving for good reason because he’s had enough. If he stays on then I don’t think we would probably get the same results. I’m actually more concerned with the transition between [veteran strikers Sadio] Mané, [Roberto] Firmino, and [Mohamed] Salah and all these youngsters coming along.”