Transcript of the above video: 

Arguably some of the biggest legal news out there right now remains the adjudication in the Constitutional Court of the currently suspended Thai Prime Minister. Basically the matter involving her communication with Hun Sen, currently the President I believe of the Senate in Cambodia and the leaked phone call regarding the situation along the border and her conduct in that phone call. So we are diving into that in this video. So with regard to the whole notion of "heartless" though, initially this was going to be kind of a different video and then I said we really need to kind of compact these together; I only have so many hours in the day. I do have a day job by the way also, so I am kind of putting sort of two things together, but I think it provides context while at the same time providing some information for those who don't really have an in-depth insight into the ongoing interworking’s of Thai politics and the legal system. So I think it is kind of a consolidated video if you will.

I thought of making this video initially after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Evacuee slams Thai PM Paetongtarn for indifference. Important to note she remains effectively the Prime Minister, but she is suspended from duty; I'll get to the background behind that here in a moment. That said, quoting directly: "Suspended Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has visited an evacuation centre in Surin province amid escalating tension along the border with Cambodia, where she was admonished by an evacuee who blasted the Government's indifference and slow reaction. Ms. Paetongtarn visited this northeastern province on Sunday to offer moral support." I urge those who are watching this video, there's a little bit more context and things in this article; go ahead and check out that article for yourselves. Quoting further: "However, the visit with marked by public frustration over the Government's handling of the conflict, with one displaced resident confronting the suspended premier for her indifference to the plight of those effected." Important to note here, her father who has his own issues at the moment - I did a video where I was talking about how apparently he was hiding in a bathroom at one point from a woman who was saying that he was basically using a similar event if you will, or a similar venue as a sort of platform for some sort of political grandstanding - and she was pretty irate and he didn't come out of the bathroom till after she left apparently according to that video - I'll put the link to that video in the description below. That said, quoting further: "As she arrived at the shelter, Chayanuch Choksukudom, who was displaced from a home in Kap Choeng District along the border, approached her to express her plight. However, upon stepping out of the vehicle, Ms. Paetongtarn proceeded directly into the shelter, seemingly unaware of the woman's presence. An aide informed Ms. Chayanuch that the premier would return to speak to her, to which she responded emotionally: "so heartless". Speaking to the media afterwards, Ms. Chayanuch expressed deep disappointment over what she perceived as the Prime Minister's indifference. Quote: "I felt so hurt by Ung Ing's words," she said referring to the Prime Minister by her nickname. Quote: " The Government's handling of the border situation is very slow. Thai people should not die in vain. Right now the whole country is in pain." Yeah, that's a good point. 

I did a video; it got no traction. I don't know why YouTube didn't seem to take it into consideration or whatever, about Thais around the country showing support for folks at the border, making donations of both money as well as material, as well as food and food stuffs and all kinds of dried goods because everybody is unified behind both the folks that have been disaffected by this as well as the service personnel along the border who are defending the country essentially. So it is important to note that, I think to give that some more context. 

Quoting further: "She urged Ms. Paetongtarn to reconsider her approach. Quote: "I want her to truly open her heart and see how much we're suffering. We understand there are interests involved, but please, think again and act anew - for the nation and its people." Ms. Chayanuch said. She was referring to critics' claim that the border flare up was due to a personal dispute between her father Thaksin and Cambodian strongman Hun Sen - an accusation which the ruling Phue Thai Party has denied." So again, I got into that in another video where we were talking about the whole issue of this woman who in a similar sort of for lack of a better term "event", basically confronted Mr. Thaksin and he was basically in the restroom until she left. Again, I did a video on that. 

I also do deep dive analysis on this stuff in our paid news service. For those who are interested in getting the videos of our paid news service - we currently have 11 episodes right now – they are long form videos, minimum, I don't think a single one has gone under a half hour; I think all of them are longer than that in fact. Some of them are over an hour long, where I get into politics, kind of analysis of that stuff, how it impacts expat land, how geopolitics, banking, tax, all of that stuff and kind of insight for expats. Again obviously legal analysis as well, so if you are interested in that, email us, [email protected]. Also, while I think about it, for those who are interested in American Diner style food, come visit us. Downtown Bangkok. Pancake Palace, breakfast anytime including pancakes. Also American Diner style food, buffalo wings, cheeseburgers, hamburgers, chilli dogs, chilli, that kind of thing. If you are interested, come check us out at Pancake Palace, the link is in the description below for the address. 

Now getting back to this issue regarding Ms. Paetongtarn, so as I just discussed, Mr. Thaksin has had this issue too, because we are all, I think most Thais are sitting around going, "what are you doing? Do you care about the people or is this grandstanding?" And there's some question there, obviously I think Ms. Paetongtarn in her capacity, even as suspended PM, obviously it is appropriate for her to be going around and trying to figure out what is going on and maybe listening to folks' issues, that type of thing. I have serious questions of what exactly Mr. Thaksin was doing, but let's leave that aside. That said, in the background of all of this is her pending Court case.

I thought of going further into that after reading a recent article from the Nation, nationthailand.com, the article is titled: Constitution Court extends Paetongtarn's deadline in audio clip case in 5 - 4 vote. Quoting directly: "The deadline has now been extended to August 4, 2025." So to be clear, the background on this as we have discussed in other videos, and as I discussed previously in this one, Ms. Paetongtarn is currently suspended pending final adjudication by the Constitutional Court over her conduct in a phone call with Mr. Hun Sen, you could call him I guess the Strong Man of Cambodia; he's currently President of the Senate, formally the President or the Prime Minister of Cambodia, basically just call him the show runner over there in Cambodia; his son now is the Prime Minister but he has a great deal of influence. She was in a phone call; I’ll get into some more of the details there, but that is now being adjudicated by the Constitutional Court and during that adjudication they could come to a decision to remove her from office. Now for some background on that, that case was taken up in a 9 - 0 decision by the Constitutional Court to take up that case; in a 7 - 3 decision they opted to suspend her pending finally adjudication in the matter. It is important to point out I think for some context, Mr. Srettha was actually removed. The Prime Minister before Ms. Paetongtarn, her predecessor, was removed from office but he was not suspended pending the adjudication. He was actually allowed to remain in office while the adjudication was ongoing, and they ultimately decided to remove him. I think that provides some possible context in the current situation. Now she is allowed to put on a defense. She has requested an extension with regard to a defense and in a 5 - 4 decision, they decided to allow her an extension to provide that defense. That's the thing to understand what the 5-4 decision is on. It is not on the underlying merits of the case, it is on the issue of can she have an extension, and a pretty slim majority, a sort of one vote swing in a nine-judge panel decided that yeah, she can have the extension. I think that provides some context on the complexion of the overall matter.

That said, quoting further: "The decision follows a petition from the President of the Senate seeking the Court's ruling under Section 170, paragraph 3, in conjunction with Section 82 of the Constitution, on whether Paetongtarn's ministerial status should be terminated under Section 170, paragraph 1 (subsection 4), in conjunction with Sections 160 (subsection 4) and (subsection 5) of the Constitution. A total of 36 Senators signed the petition after a voice clip allegedly featuring a conversation between Paetongtarn and Hun Sen was released via the media on June 18. " Quoting further: "The respondent later held a press conference admitting the voice was hers, but stated it was a private conversation intended to preserve peace and protect Thailand's sovereignty through soft diplomacy." Strange way to put it but okay. And the other thing is, this whole notion of a “private conversation”. Look public figures, I'm always kind of, I get it that leaders geo-politically, however you want to look at it, they communicate with each other, discretion is part of that, but one would think when holding a public office, one would know that their communications, in a sense nothing is private if you will. That said, quoting further: "However, the petitioners argued that the Prime Minister failed to discharge her duties transparently and independently in accordance with her constitutional obligations. They claimed her conduct reflected a personal allegiance to Cambodia and a willingness to comply with Cambodian demands." Quoting further: "Moreover, she reportedly treated Thailand’s second Army region Commander as an adversary." Quoting further: "The Constitutional Court on Tuesday (July 29) considered Paetongtarn's second request for an extension to submit her defense, citing the ongoing complication (correction: compilation) of evidence as the reason." Ongoing complication (correction: compilation) of evidence? I mean while at the same time she corroborated that it was her; that's an interesting one. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. That said, quoting further: "The Court approved the extension by a narrow majority ruling to allow her until August 4 to file her defence." So again, a narrow majority in favour of her extension. So presumably there were four judges saying, "hey no, you don't get an extension." I think that's important to understand. Quoting further: "Her final opportunity, according to Section 31 of the 2018 Organic Act on Procedures of the Constitutional Court." Quoting further: "The four dissenting judges - Panya Udchachon, Wirun Saengthian, Jiraniti Havanon, and Banjongsak Wongprach - opposed the extension." So four judges opposed the extension in principle. Quoting further: "Should the respondent fail to submit her defence within the extended deadline, the Court will interpret this as a decision not to contest the allegations and will proceed with this deliberation accordingly, pursuant to Section 54, paragraph 3 of the same Act." 

So that is basically the posture of things as they sit now. Again the situation here in Thailand is, look folks are pretty concerned about the conduct of the Prime Minister; they are also concerned about the conduct - frankly I think many are concerned, as evidenced by the fact that there was a woman who highly irate that was confronting Mr. Thaksin - they are concerned about the conduct of her father and exactly what role he plays in all of this. I myself have my own concerns about all this. At the end of the day, it remains to be seen how this stuff is going to play out. Important to note that if she is removed, presumably we would go into a caretaker government likely, at least temporarily until Parliament can then make a decision as to deciding on a new Prime Minister from the slate. Currently it is my understanding there are five possible candidates who could be chosen, one of whom is actually from the “so-called’ Core Coalition Party Phue Thai who is third on their slate. He could be put forward or he could be sort of recruited for the job if you will, voted in I guess is the right way to put it. There are others, two I believe from the UTN, and one from Bhumjaithai and I can't remember the other one. But that said, there are alternatives here and one of them is actually from the current main Coalition Party. So how exactly this plays out remains to be seen.

There are a lot of nuances and a lot of details to kind of keep a hold of, to sort of follow all this. The reason for the thumbnail, I was watching Constantine the other day and when I saw the issue of an extension in this case, I thought about the scene where Lucifer and Constantine are talking and Constantine is kind of like I don't know how to put it, he's like a spiritual hustler, or con man or something and Lucifer kind of gets mad at Constantine, and he says, "what do you want? An extension?" It was sort of like when I saw that there was a slim majority in favour of this extension, I kind of immediately thought about, just the tone in the voice - I believe that actor's name is Stormare is the name of the actor, and just the tone of the voice was like, "what do you want? an extension?" A 5 - 4 decision that is a thin majority; that is where the Court is kind of like for lack of a better term, I don't want to ascribe paradigm to the Court or anything but it's in a sense kind of begrudging in a sense and I just thought that the tone kind of matched, so that is the reason for the thumbnail. Again, that said all of this, how it plays out remains to be seen. We will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.