July 1, 2020: Whether Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam is trying to put the cat back into the bag is up for debate. He has said today that another deputy prime minister, Somkid Jatusripitak, publicly mentioned Singapore’s House dissolution just because it was relevant to his talks with the media, not because the Thai government was thinking about the same thing.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has dissolved parliament for snap elections months before they are due and even as the city-state battles the coronavirus pandemic. In a statement reported widely by the media, Somkid said while overseeing a government SME-supporting event that all nations were struggling with bad economies, and Singapore’s solution was to call for a snap election to start afresh and be extremely prepared.
With continued problems in the ruling Palang Pracharath Party threatening his Cabinet role, which focuses on the economy, Somkid’s remark has been picked up left and right and created considerable ripples.
Wissanu repeated what Somkid apparently had told the Cabinet, that the latter mentioned Singapore as an example of how countries prepared themselves for economic storms. “The deputy prime minister was talking to reporters only,” Wissanu said, and suggested that Somkid’s remark was being overly politicised.
Wissanu was also asked by reporters outright if the Cabinet had discussed the possibility of a House dissolution. “No” was his reply.