And if you divided Thailand while you were in power, at least there were only Thaksin lovers and haters back then.

The free-for-all melee at the moment is heart-breaking, and how I miss that black-and-white landscape.

 Come back. Just ignore those warnings and get on a plane. Trust me, the coup-makers are too polite to shoot anyone.

Here are some reasons I can think of to support my plea:

1. I miss the "sense of urgency". If it had been you who staged the coup, the game would have been well and truly over. I mean the corruption probe would have been given a three-week deadline, which would have been strictly enforced.

While I have sympathy for the coup leaders - who now have to uncover within only  five weeks the whole truth of what happened over the past five years - they should learn to be ruthless, swift and market their action shrewdly.

2. There was a time when only a mention of your name made people stop fighting and join hands. Now it's vice versa.

You must be pleased to know that the likes of Kaewsan Atibodhi, Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka, Pridiyathorn Devakula and Nam Yimyaem have been engaged in daily brawls. The media community is also on the verge of breaking apart over whether it should have representatives in the coup-installed National Legislative Assembly.

3. Yes, the power vacuum. Your return may shape up the interim leadership, which critics say is looking like a rabbit caught in a headlight.

Those poor coup-makers are now caught between various social forces. Some want them to wield their power like a sword, while others demand respect for human rights and the Rule of Law. Best of all, there are those who interpret their every step as part of secret bargaining with you.

For your information, a well-known political activist who had campaigned against you has told us:

"They [the coup-makers] are incredible. They listen to everything we say. If we had even demanded a Cabinet position, we would have got it."

4. Which made me worried that while the coup-makers appear naive and amateurish, they can also be spoiled.

All roads are leading to them now, and they may be tempted to do a Thaksin by spreading gifts, offers and invitations all over the place - just to make new allies and pacify their critics.

The rifts among journalists following their peers' appointment to the NLA provides an ominous sense of deja vu and your return hopefully will remind everyone of the peril of conflicts of interest.

5. This may sound a rather selfish reason, but your non-presence seems to lighten the magnitude of your political sins. For example, now people are demanding to see "legal evidence" so as to be convinced that your wife's purchase of a government-auctioned plot of land was wrong.

You've got to feel sorry for the coup-makers who would never in this lifetime find anything legally wrong with, say, the telecom excise tax decree that boosted your business fortunes big time.

Come back and strike that old fear back into the heart of our civil society.

6. Thais' flawed conscience has to be further exposed. Come back and finish the job.

One of the reasons for the investigation into your and your previous government's scandals is the fact that virtually everyone got at least a little something from you during your reign.

Conflicts of interest were not only deep-rooted, but also very widespread. The probe must have hit a lot of stumbling blocks. Without your presence, some people will still be able to hide their guilt - which is most unfair to you.

7. Your era made people talk about principles and values, but your absence is threatening to highlight the nation's bad traits: short memory, fickleness, selfishness. You name it. Come back and return us to the black-and-white world.

I miss the surreal, romantic and ideological campaign against you and your government. I miss the days when we talked uncompromising conscience sincerely and in one voice. And I miss the days of unity (among your haters, that is) and the time when we all shared just one moral standard.

The "grey" world can be very painful, you know. Although all is not forgiven, please come back.

 Tulsathit Taptim