It certain helps that Surayud, a former Army commander-in-chief, was widely considered to be democratically minded when he was an officer, certainly a rare breed among his military peers. As such, he is well placed to exert his leadership vis-a-vis the Council for National Security (CNS), formerly the CDR, and to mobilise the rest of society to do its share to achieve national reconciliation and then rebuild the country's democracy.

Although the provisional Constitution states that the CNS has the power to fire the interim prime minister, Surayud - who counted coup-leader Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin among his trusted subordinates while in active service - has already cleared the first major hurdle of political stability, which civilian interim prime ministers with no military background would otherwise have to grapple with.

His high stature as a former member of the Privy Council also ensures that the CNS will respect civilian rule under Surayud's leadership and not the other way around. But that is perhaps the only advantage that Surayud has. Then again, that does not seem to make the challenges that he faces any less daunting.

Unlike democratically elected governments, which usually get a honeymoon period to settle into their work before being subjected to rigorous judgement by the public, Surayud is expected to hit the ground running once his Cabinet is in place. His first priority will be to articulate his strategy to bring about national reconciliation and restore peace in the deep South. Next he must implement drastic political reform, including bringing to justice cheating politicians and ridding the state bureaucracy of corruption. On the economic front, Surayud must guarantee fair business competition in order to restore investor confidence in the economy.

Surayud must at the same time seek to create an atmosphere that will enable people from all walks of life to participate in the drawing up of a new democratic constitution, which will be concurrently carried out by the soon-to-be-established Constitution Drafting Assembly. To guarantee broad-based public participation in this crucial process, unfettered civil liberties, such as those stipulated by the 1997 Constitution that was abrogated by the coup-makers, must be restored.

Upon his accepting the Royal Command to lead the interim government yesterday, Surayud asked for one week to come up with his Cabinet. He will get all the time that he needs to assemble a high-calibre team. His Cabinet's members must possess unblemished professional integrity and a high degree of political impartiality for the sake of the country.

Thailand, which has gone through a harrowing political crisis that engendered unprecedented divisions and a potential for violence, took a big step backward when the Thaksin government had to be removed in a military putsch instead of by the ballot box.

It would have been impossible to defeat the former prime minister through constitutional means given his virtual absolute power, not to mention the degree to which he had allowed the corruption of key democratic institutions.

Now that Surayud has accepted the biggest burden that any Thai citizen can possibly take by trying to fix the country's ailing democracy, there is no going back. In his new role as civilian prime minister, Surayud not only must work against a tight deadline, but also live up to huge public expectations.