The strangest new phenomenon perhaps concerns where you stand politically. There may never have been a time when you found yourself more confused about your own convictions concerning the supposedly crucial issues of the day. You begin to get seriously frustrated because for the first time in years, you can't answer what used to be a very simple question: Whose side are you on?

My friend Daeng typifies this kind of modern day, middle class, member of the silent majority "average Thai", who is facing a dilemma (if you are a pessimist) and/or a challenge (if you happen to be an optimist).

This is the uncensored version of an intimate conversation that took place when I met him the other day.

A: You don't look happy at all.

B: Neither do you.

A: What's bothering you?

B: That's the problem. Nothing bothers me anymore.

A: What do you think of the Surayud government?

B: Hopelessly slow, confused and gutless. He obviously hasn't realised that running a post-coup government isn't for the faint of heart.

A: So, you are leaning towards Thaksin.

B: No. He has no right to come back to power. His populist policies brought about this mess. His efforts against the current government will hurt the whole country. This guy can't live a day without being in the news. Perhaps he has convinced himself that there is no such thing as bad publicity. And that's the most dangerous misconception.

A: You think then that General Sonthi, the coup-maker, should take over the premiership himself so that things could go forward faster and that a real sense of direction could be established.

B: You must be joking. It's the coup he staged that got us into the present chaos.

A: What about a second coup to make it the mother of all coups?

B: That would land us into the mother of all disasters.

A: You are suggesting then that we should just sit tight and support the new constitution being drafted so that we could expect the new election to solve all problems.

B: Which constitution draft are you talking about, the one with the "crisis council" or the one with Buddhism being the state religion?

A: Of course, I mean the constitution draft that will be passed in the upcoming referendum.

B: But with these two clauses, the constitution won't pass the referendum. If I vote yes, I will be supporting several provisions I don't agree with. But if I vote no, we will end up with a constitution dictated by the coup leaders. And, mind you, I can't abstain either.

A: So, either way you won't get the constitution you want. Are you going to vote in the next election then?

B: How can I? I don't even know whether the two big political parties - Thai Rak Thai and the Democrats - will still be around after May 30. The Constitution Tribunal may decide to dissolve one of the two main parties of the country, or both of them - and that would mean I would end up without a choice.

A: Even if the worse should happen and both the Democrat and Thai Rak Thai parties were abolished by the orders of the Constitution Tribunal, you would still have a choice of whether you want Chavalit, Banharn or Chuan as the new prime minister.

B: You call that a choice?

A: Or else the political pundits say you have to choose between Chuan Leekpai and Somkid Jatusripitak.

B: You must be kidding. The more things change …

A: No kidding. The bomb blast over the weekend near Rajvithee Soi 24, they say, was the work of either a pro- or anti-Thaksin group.

B: No. They are dead wrong. We all know who did it. Who else but the "guys with ill intentions towards the country". That's why you and I are utterly confused.

Suthichai Yoon