This was rather unusual for the City of Angels, where locals and visitors alike love to celebrate whenever possible. There was an absence of festive spirit, only a sense of insecurity among city dwellers.

The approval rating of interim prime minister General Surayud has dropped alarmingly. An Abac poll said it was just 48 per cent, down from a high of 90 per cent just weeks before.

This follows the series of eight explosions that killed three and injured dozens on December 31, something that has not happened in recent memory. While the government and its backer, the Council for National Security (CNS), have been trying to calm the general public, conspiracy theories abound as to who was behind the multiple blasts.

Then there was another "explosion" last Wednesday, when Bangkokians returned to work. This time, it was an explosion of deception, as the authorities received more than 30 bomb-hoax calls, resulting in the evacuation of thousands of office workers, students and teachers from buildings that received the threats.

Then came Thursday, when the city was abuzz with rumours that there would be a new coup. Different rumour-mongers told different stories, resulting in public confusion and uncertainty. One group of speculators said the CNS, led by General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, or one of Sonthi's associates, would stage a second coup to tighten their grip on power.

However, another group of speculators said the CNS would face a counter-coup and would be toppled by people supported by the previous regime. All these rumours were backed by the movement of hundreds of troops in the Northeast.

At 10pm General Sonthi went on TV and dismissed these rumours, and the city went to bed peacefully for another night.

Then the following morning we heard General Surayud, the interim premier, warn that Thais, or more specifically Bangkokians, should be prepared for more violence in the next one or two months. Reading between the lines, the government and the CNS and their opponents are engaged in a fight in which urban psychological warfare is a critical tactic.

Such a war of nerves is probably well under way, and Bangkok should be bracing itself for increased anxiety.

The pro-government and CNS camp believes that its credibility is being eroded by opponents, especially those led by General Chavalit Yongchaiyudh. Chavalit rebuked the government and CNS when he was accused of pulling strings and even being behind the December 31 blasts.

Chavalit, a former premier who resigned when Thailand ran into the 1997 financial crisis, was a deputy premier in the Thaksin administration. He claimed that he had received a videotape that showed a person who had planted one of the explosives. This assertion was rebuffed by the CNS, which said it had also got a copy of the tape.

General Chavalit had publicly accused the government and CNS of being a new, inexperienced driver at the wheel of the country.

He also suggested that the CNS had probably been behind the blasts in order to justify the tightening of its grip on power after overthrowing the Thaksin government.

Besides the war of nerves General Surayud has warned us of, there also appeared to be a war of words between the CNS and Chavalit. General Saprang Kalayanamitr, the deputy CNS chief, said the public should carefully examine the record of Chavalit's public utterances, given that he is known for saying one thing one day and then dismissing his own statement the next. Saprang, also the assistant army chief, is probably the most aggressive of the top eight CNS leaders.

The former commander of the Army Third Region, which covers the northern provinces, the political stronghold of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, earlier said: "We're sincere ... If there hadn't been a calamity on the way, we wouldn't have done it [staged the September 19 coup]. We only wanted to defend our motherland, the monarchy and the public interest."

Nophakhun Limsamarnphun

 nop1122@yahoo.com