Chavalit: Though he’s no longer in the limelight, his ability to raise eyebrows is intact.

Even though he has retired from politics, former prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh has not hesitated to step back into the limelight to offer his "well-intentioned" advice to coup makers.

True to form with his befuddled public speaking, Chavalit managed to raise the eyebrows of many people who questioned whether he was saying what he meant.

Based on his comments on Friday and Saturday, Chavalit addressed two key issues - his doubt about military officers sitting on the boards of state enterprises and his support for deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra to end his exile abroad.

Chavalit's views are clear, but he chose to speak out of turn as if he was trying to find a pretext to exert influence over the Council for National Security (CNS).

Even though Chavalit tailored his comments in the form of a lesson from a senior general to a younger generation of military leaders, CNS chairman General Sonthi Boonyaratglin angrily responded by casting doubt on the true motive behind the lecture.

Sonthi hit back at Chavalit for calling for Thaksin's return on grounds that his presence at home would be easier to monitor than his exile in a faraway land.

The timing of Sonthi's reaction is an indication that the verbal salvos relating to the military presence at state enterprises are just a smoke screen for the underlying issue on how to uproot Thaksin's tentacles of power.

When Chavalit made critical remarks against having soldiers running state enterprises, Sonthi kept his peace. Their bickering became public only after Chavalit had brought up the taboo subject of Thaksin's political comeback.

Yesterday's dinner hosted by Chavalit for Sonthi and other coup-makers was seen as a publicity stunt to cool tensions between the CNS and die-hard supporters of the Thaksin regime.

It is an open secret that Chavalit enjoys playing the role of power broker.

Sonthi's fiery remarks over the weekend have undermined Chavalit's credibility to pull strings.

As to Chavalit's comments about the coup-makers succumbing to greed, Sonthi countered that Chavalit himself was a proponent of military take-over while his ally Thaksin was still in power.

He went on to ask about Chavalit's about-turn to favour Thaksin after claiming to have parted ways.

Over dinner last night, Chavalit hoped to regain his good grace as a peddler of influence while Sonthi wants to mend fences in order to keep him on a tight leash instead of turning on the CNS when it suits him.

If the CNS is to restore political normalcy within the one-year deadline, it cannot afford to attract new enemies. Though holding no office, Chavalit still wields influence over a sizeable number of politicians seen as remnants of the Thaksin regime.

These remnants want Chavalit to help them piggyback on to the CNS to escape unscathed from the destruction of the Thaksin regime.

Through circumstance, Chavalit and the coup-makers have become strange bedfellows. The two sides share a kindred spirit as proponents for military intervention.

But Chavalit has to ensure the survival of his allies from the Thaksin regime in order to retain his clout while the coup-makers risk invoking the public's wrath should they fail to completely sever the tentacles of power.

Avudh Panananda

The Nation