But the play on words will in the next few days be replaced by real substance, when reality dawns that this is but an interim Cabinet with a specific "national rehabilitation" mission to complete within a clear one-year deadline. In other words, this isn't a government that can afford to be too ambitious. Any Cabinet member who dreams of leaving a lasting political legacy should be warned well in advance that he or she is terribly misguided.

Despite the overwhelming nation-rebuilding task ahead, the Surayud Cabinet would do well to confine its mission to a few specific, urgent tasks. Any attempt to give the impression that it's a government that will fix the country's long-term ills will only make the ministers sound conceited, out of place and even incredibly naïve.

The Cabinet should therefore set itself specific goals, lay down measures to achieve the targets, declare how their performance in each field can be measured and pledge to accept the public's point of view, no matter how divergent it may be. And when the 365-day deadline arrives, they should just bid a graceful farewell.

There shouldn't be any confusion over the specific assignments for this interim government:

1 Put the country firmly on the road to national reconciliation through grass-roots political participation.

2 Revive business confidence through a policy of sustainable "growth with quality" to replace the previous government's populist, pork-barrel platform.

3 Lay the groundwork for a sustainable anti-corruption campaign at all levels and

4 Restore peace in the South.

Anything more comprehensive, longer-term or politically more sexy should be left to the new government that will be installed after the next general election, which should, through a parallel process of political reform, put in place more effective checks and balances against possible power abuse and corruption.

Once the four goals are set and blueprints to achieve them are laid down, all ministries and government agencies will have to devote all their resources to accomplishing these specific tasks. It's always tempting for ministers to do their own things, propose their own schemes and claim their successes based on how their own ministry's targets are met.

Under the current, extraordinary circumstances and within this extremely limited timeframe, such a conventional division of labour must be replaced by the pooling of resources of all ministries to ensure that the whole Cabinet is mobilised for nothing else but moving towards the four main goals. No minister, however tempted he or she might be to pursue his or her own pet projects, should be allowed to veer away from the interim government's main policies.

It's also crucially important to draw a clear distinction with the previous government's "grey political culture", which spawned corrupt practices from the top of the powers-that-be all the way down to minor officials. The thread that runs through the whole exercise will therefore have to be the moral authority of a prime minister that the country can rely on to provide leadership that is marked by integrity and accountability, that transcends political partisanship and ideological affiliation.

There is a pressing need to urgently and unhesitatingly repair the home that was destroyed by a despotic electoral leader and then tainted by a dubious coup. This isn't the time to deliberate the architecture or glamour of a new luxury mansion.

Suthichai Yoon