The much-vaunted anti-coup demonstration on December 10, the country's Constitution Day, alas, will turn out to be an anti-climax.

That, of course, is a big disappointment. The main protagonist, the Thai Rak Thai Party, now without former chieftain Thaksin (a PM turned international vagrant) at its head, has officially dissociated itself from this "worthy cause".

That's truly unfortunate. The country badly needs a visible, legitimate political force to prod the Council for National Security (CNS) into cleaning the country up, throwing those corrupt elements in the previous government into jail, and putting the country back on a course for genuine, robust and incorruptible democracy. This isn't going to happen - simply because the supposed organisers aren't credible. One of them made the dramatic disclosure that he had been offered "a seven-figure payment" by a leading apparatchik of the defunct Thaksin regime to stage a possible upheaval.

That notorious henchman (yes, his notoriety is the sole source of his political credibility) has even sued the supposed operative for defamation over the allegation. That's a bizarre twist indeed. Under the previous regime, renting a crowd to support Thaksin or oppose his foes was a reputation-boosting activity within the inner circle. Now, being seen as even remotely related to a public rally against those who overthrew Thaksin has become grounds for slander.

Who then, will be at Sanam Luang on December 10 to confirm the coup-makers' constant complaint that, since September 19, the stirrings of "undercurrents" have been whipped up by the old power clique?

Not the members of the old anti-Thaksin movement. Suriyasai Katasila, one of the five core leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy, says he won't be there because "the situation isn't ripe". Most people, he claims, would still like to give the interim government a chance to deliver the goods.

There is also the question of the credibility of the rally organisers, some of whom, he charges, are related to "groups who lost power". Suriyasai says if the number of protesters on the day is as huge as the organisers claim it will be (10,000 plus), then it would pose some "reasonable questions" about the level of support for the "deposed group".

A few well-known groups of academics, who have been actively making a stand against the coup, have also declared that they won't be at this particular rally either, although their determination to oppose military takeovers will continue unabated. They have obviously disavowed all links to any "power clique", either currently in power, recently deposed, or positioned in any other form.

It's also not clear now whether the supposed organiser who made the sensational disclosure about a financial offer from an ex-minister to rent a mob - and is now facing a defamation suit from his alleged supporter - will make his mob's presence felt at the appointed time and place or not.

Who'll be there then? Perhaps, the ex-communist sympathiser who claims to have been paid by remnants of a major political party to oppose the coup will have to live up to his promise of producing at least 30,000 protesters from the North and Northeast.

He doesn't really need to "hit the target" with an actual rally, though. Perhaps that was never the real intention anyway. With the daily pre-paid publicity about the December 10 anti-coup demonstration, he can already claim his mission is accomplished.

It's a real pity, though. We really do need a series of genuine political rallies against coups. This phantom vision of a political show of force at Sanam Luang, created by a tormented mind residing outside the country, is a real political farce indeed.

Suthichai Yoon