He has that much time to dissociate the former premier from "democracy" and prove to a highly sceptical world that what happened here was not a blow to the system, but painful surgery to remove a tumour the system unwittingly caused.

This assignment could be either hard or very simple, depending on how much political will he and the military council have. Judging by most of the foreign editorials, especially those in the West, the coup-makers' image is only slightly better than that of the Burmese junta.

And based on what has been written by the likes of The Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, Asian Wall Street Journal and The Economist, changing that perception looks like it will be an uphill task. For all the complexities of our political crisis, the editorial writers only see two things - tanks and their overthrow of a democratically elected leader - and that's that.

Westerners have been as uncompromising in denouncing the coup as many Thais have been in denouncing the ills of the Thaksin era. One of Surayud's biggest challenges will be stopping the doom merchants becoming prophets.

While the Western media could be seen to have oversimplified what has happened here, some fundamental, justified concern has been expressed.

It's their firm belief that soldiers never change, that they can only handle political crises the soldiers' way - through the use of force and a rigid mentality that opponents are all enemies who should be dealt with drastically.

Like this or not, both local and world histories are on the Western media's side. Examples have been abundant, and the international concern over a slippery slope situation here has even made someone many of us considered the most corrupt leader in recent times seem like a poor, helpless victim. The West has a coup reaction "template", which has been used in a blanket manner - no matter how many flowers were showered on the Thai tanks.

Surayud's task is not to win over the West, which has clearly shown how different its democratic values are from those of the anti-Thaksin movement here. The real challenge is to adhere to and foster fundamental principles of democracy, some of which went missing or were undermined under Thaksin while much of the West wasn't watching. In other words, Surayud and the military council must not repeat what Thais perceived as Thaksin's serious shortcomings, no matter how trivial those shortcomings might have looked in Westerners' eyes.

We need a real, effective system of checks and balances. We need a system that can bring any offender to justice in a swift and fair manner, no matter how rich or powerful he is. We need a system that takes Ample Rich seriously, not one that mocks doubters and insults the intelligence of anyone who sees the blatant exploitation of legal loopholes. We need a system that ensures you can't get away with your crimes by simply buying MPs for your party to pre-empt parliamentary censure and impeachment.

As things stand now, it's easier for Western-style democracy to justify Thaksin than the coup. Surayud must show the world that real democracy is something much more profound than holding elections.

Nobody wanted this coup to happen, but now that it has, it's Surayud's job to reveal what brought Thailand to this point - the renewed ambition of men in uniform or unrestrained greed among those who benefited from but betrayed the system.

Surayud has to deliver a democracy that is different. Thailand needs one that is uncompromising on corruption, that does not favour the politicians with the best marketing tools. He has about one year to prove that the likes of Thaksin cannot be justified by the "World is grey" argument, that the overthrown leader is "black" as far democracy is concerned.

And lastly, Surayud will need to strive toward the extreme irony - giving his motherland a true democracy that can solve its own problems and won't require a coup-installed leader like him in the future.

He might not be able to totally absolve this coup, but at least he can help ensure it's Thailand's last. After all, having "the last Thai coup" in the Dictionary of All-time Divisive Issues makes better sense than having Thaksin's name in it.

 Tulsathit Taptim