Obviously not, though the three new deputy ministers have yet to get right down to work.

What about the rest of the Cabinet then? Alas, many of them have yet to show some movement towards what they intend to achieve before their term expires, let alone kick off new initiatives.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont may be remembered as, among many other qualities, a chief executive who was incredibly optimistic in his assessment of the calibre of his Cabinet members. He seems to genuinely believe that they have tried their best and that his best really is the best even though it might seem inadequate in the eyes of others.

The government, as well as the Council for National Security (CNS), are overwhelmed by a series of messy problems, some self-inflicted, such as the lack of tough policy initiatives and actions in dealing with challenges. The CNS could also go down history as coup-makers who had soft hearts and soft hands.

Many people have already ridiculed them as amateurs without the proper qualifications needed to become military dictators. Or maybe they have not shown the fangs and true colours of ruthlessness?

Regardless of what they do, among their various self-inflicted problems is their failure to act tough, leaving their opponents - in the form of street hecklers and small-time campaigners-for-hire - to poke fun at them for lacking the valour all soldiers are supposed to possess.

It is not far off the mark to say that they have let themselves become victims of bullying, without a proper counter-strategy.

Thai Rak Thai remnants and hired hands no longer show fear, not to mention respect, when they come out with criticism and tirades at political rallies though such activities were supposed to be prohibited.

Anyway, this is the Thai way of doing things - coping with adversity by allowing solutions to present themselves. It might not be easily understood, but it has been time tested over the years. We have yet to see whether this can also work amidst a broad range of nerve-wracking problems.

If the Surayud government, or the CNS, show little concern over the challenges and adversity posed by Thaksin, his admirers and his hired hands, and refuse to counter attack, they should know that the entire nation will eventually be at the receiving end of the ongoing attempts to create trouble.

It might be asking too much to want to see crooked politicians receive punishment under the due process of law for crimes committed during their years in power, including the plundering of national assets. We now see that the investigations and the slowness to achieve results are making people feel that it is difficult, if not almost impossible, to get criminals to pay for their actions.

On the political front, we could soon face trouble arising from the introduction of a new constitution with articles unacceptable to groups with different vested interests and political agendas. Some clauses beneficial to the people, in terms of proper checks-and-balances, could be killed by politicians who want less probity while in public office.

What's more, both the government and the CNS are regarded as clumsy, if not naive, in their responses to the political offensive posed all these months by Thaksin through well-funded public-relations campaigns and other means. No matter how ridiculous Thaksin's strategies might look, what really counts is their effectiveness in capturing the public's attention.

The so-called "war room" set up to counter Thaksin's propaganda machine has yet to produce any results due to inflexible bureaucratic machinery. The idea of hiring a foreign public-relations firm to tell the world the truth about Thailand could be just wasteful spending, miserably overpowered by Thaksin and his money.

Even if the war room functioned well, it would still be difficult to produce the kind of messages necessary to counter the Thaksin crowd.

The government has yet to show satisfactory results in effective management. The economy is slipping. The government and the CNS are losing their grip on political control.

What lies ahead is hardly pleasant. Political turbulence through multiple events could lead to undesirable consequences. A government not in control of the overall situation normally invites more troubles and the creation of political warlords, armed or otherwise. If not the knives, the fangs are also dreadfully long and venomous.

Sopon Onkgara