General Surayud Chulanont has tried to escape his image as a do-nothing prime minister by getting tough lately.

Social critic Thirayuth Boonmee recently described his government as a "hermit feeding a tortoise". Increasingly, people have begun to draw a parallel between Surayud and Chuan Leekpai, a former prime minister who had strong principles but lacked the decisiveness to run the country.

Surayud has whipped up his Cabinet and told them to pull up their sleeves and get to work.

He ordered Deputy Premier and Social Development and Human Security Minister Paiboon Wattanasiritham to travel to Chiang Mai and Lamphun to deal with the haze crisis in the North.

The premier has also dispatched Deputy Industry Minister Piyabutr Cholvijarn to tackle the pollution slick in the Chao Phya River that resulted in the death of thousands of fish.

But with only seven months remaining there is little time for this interim government to accomplish much.

A series of policy flip-flops, from the capital controls to the amendment of the Foreign Business Act, has greatly undermined the credibility of the government - and Surayud seems unwilling to take political risks.

A Cabinet member admitted that Surayud has not been decisive enough.

"He is not a hands-on type of person, but he should have taken a hands-on approach to get the results out as quickly as possible," he said.

One notable political analyst said he had been feeling pessimistic over the past two weeks about the prospects of the interim government.

"The problem has to do with Surayud alone. If he were to step down, things would have been better," he said.

Surayud's weakness is that he does not want to get any dirt on him as he would like to return to the Privy Council untarnished. If this is the case, he will not be expected to make any hard decisions.

There have also been rumours that Surayud and the Council for National Security (CNS) were not on good terms and that the military leadership would like to remove Surayud.

Media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul tested the water recently by hinting in his TV programme that there had been talks about a need to replace the prime minister.

He said the name of Anand Panyarachun, two-time unelected former prime minister, had been floated as one possible candidate.

But the CNS tried to play down the rumours by organising a lunch meeting on Monday between the military rulers and members of the Surayud Cabinet.

General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, the Army chief and CNS chairman, came out to assure that the relationship between the CNS and the interim government was fine and inseparable like "a throat and an Adam's apple".

Tanin Kraivixien, who served as Thailand's prime minister between 1976 and 1977, made a similar comment when he compared his government and the military leadership like "a clam and shell" respectively. Ironically, his military-backed government was toppled by another military coup.

Sonthi and the CNS would like the Surayud government to improve its performance because they too will have to take the blame for any mistakes of the government.

There were three major points raised at the lunch with the CNS and the Surayud Cabinet.

First, as the military leadership stepped in to defuse the political crisis by staging a coup, it was now the task of the Surayud government to carry on the mission to bring the political situation back to normal.

Second, the CNS would like all government officials to realise they must work in harmony to support the monarchy. The prime minister should make sure that government officials follow their duties and responsibilities.

Third, the Internal Security Operations Command will play a more important role in supporting government bureaucracy, providing a link between the government and the military.

 The atmosphere of the talks between the CNS and the Surayud Cabinet sounded cordial. Sonthi needed this kind of assurance before he holds a news conference next Tuesday to talk about the CNS's performance over the past six months.

Surayud can't afford to remain complacent as in the coming months he will be facing more serious threats from the political turmoil as Thailand has yet to overcome its sharp political divide.

Political Desk

The Nation