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Barely a couple of days after the Songkran Day riots in Bangkok, the political temperature once again reached boiling point after Sondhi Limthongkul, one of the core leaders for the People's Alliance for Democracy, was shot early yesterday morning.

It was a blatant, almost gangland-style attack. The PAD leaders promptly held a press conference calling on the authorities to find the culprits.

This incident is likely to prolong the state of emergency in Bangkok and its suburbs. But that's not what the public is actually concerned about. The thing many fear the most is that the situation may prompt the yellow shirts to take to the streets again to put additional pressure on the authorities to find the gunmen. Let's all hope that this does not happen.

The PAD leaders also called on the police to find the shooters. Of course, they have every right to air their discontent, but they should really leave the case up to the authorities.

Thai society will only plunge into more chaos if nobody believes in the rule of law.

While the motive of the incident has yet to be demonstrated, it is likely to renew political tensions, which seemed to have subsided over the past couple of days now that the red-shirt protesters have dispersed after causing enough turmoil in Pattaya and the City of Angels.

The PAD leaders and their supporters can contribute to the peace by leaving the matter up to the responsible officers instead of fuelling more political discontent.

They must remember that the red shirts' refusal to leave the authorities to investigate the clash between the red and the blue shirts ended up in Thailand being internationally humiliated.

The authorities ended up having to cancel the East Asia summit shortly before Songkran.

This is when the yellow shirts should stay calm instead of falling into the trap of whoever is responsible for the shooting. Regardless of the gunmen's motives, whoever was involved in the incident apparently meant to challenge the authorities, especially at a time when a state of emergency is in place in the capital.

All sides should help restore confidence in the country by respecting the rule of law. The way the government handled the red-shirt rioters in Bangkok has already shown that the authorities have the capacity to take care of public security. They should be trusted.