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What he should have realised by now is that he continues to face hostility, not just from political adversaries led chiefly by Thaksin Shinawatra, whose badmouthing has corrosive effects on the government's stability, but from civil servants and employees of state-run agencies.

Abhisit must have experienced a widespread lack of cooperation from civil servants who still hope that Thaksin and his cronies will regain power not too soon from now. This is based on their perception that the Abhisit administration does not have sufficient resolve and courage to call a spade a spade.

If this is true, Abhisit and his Cabinet members from the Democrat Party have themselves to blame. The reluctance to be resolute and decisive has sent the wrong signal to civil servants that the chief executive does not have the guts to deal with tough challenges.

Look at the way Abhisit has been belittled by the national police chief during the past two weeks. It is difficult enough for him to save somebody else's face while losing his own. The soft touch obviously made the police chief thinking that Abhisit can be bullied easily.

That perception seemed to have been misplaced when the police appeared to to accept a compromise offered by Abhisit so that both could save face. It was not so. The police chief hardened his stand over his proposed leave of absence. He contended that his trip to China from August 5-14 would be on official business.

The police chief has come back, not even covering half the period sought for leave. Then he went to the office to show that he was the real boss of the police and was taking full charge. The acting police chief had to step aside after just a few days.

It was a personal snub for Abhisit; unpardonable insolence on the part of the civil servant, who clearly wanted to embarrass the chief executive just to protect his vested interest in preparing a list of hundreds of police officials [for the Cabinet's consideration during the annual reshuffle].

Why was it so important? Well, the police fiefdom has long-standing notoriety relating to shady interests and all sorts of corruption. Positions and promotions are for those who have the money to buy them, and that means an opportunity to recoup investment with vast profits many times over. The earlier claim of the police chief that he had no idea about the peddling of positions for cash was merely hogwash, proven by his eagerness to safeguard the list for his own handling.

That's why the list and positions for cash are perceived as the final treasure trove for some officers who want to retire with massive wealth. The big fish in the police force have never been known as retirees living on meagre pensions with no extra funds to make life more comfortable. They are all millionaires.

With this challenge, insolent and uncaring, it's time for Abhisit to think seriously about this officer and whatever vested interests might have inspired his obvious insubordination. If he still takes this in stride and shows the guy the other cheek, he will face more disobedience among civil servants.

More to the point, it is ridiculous to see that senior executives of the Stock Exchange of Thailand and the Securities and Exchange Commission have been more than willing to serve as witnesses on the side of Thaksin, who is fighting a court case to reclaim Bt76 billion in assets frozen by the state.

These officials have turned against the state by protecting the accused, who still has many criminal cases pending court trial. They are more worried about their loyalty to a fugitive criminal than trying to protect national interests.

Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij has not shown any enthusiasm about reshuffling those executives in the two agencies. Thaksin's cronies are very well entrenched and secure, even after serving as key witness in favour of the fugitive and his family members in previous court cases.

These cases represent just the tip of the iceberg. There remains an undercurrent that can wreck Abhisit's statecraft. He is seen as too weak to mount any resistance or to initiate any offensive by removing these thorns in the side quickly and appointing capable hands who share the same philosophy and sense of mission. If he allows these self-serving civil servants to hold powerful positions, only more failure can be expected.

His adversaries have thrown down the gauntlet. It depends on Abhisit whether he takes up the challenges and deals with them in a decisive manner. If he does not teach them a painful lesson, he will reap the consequences of his half-hearted stance.