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Social critic Prawase Wasi's open letter to Thaksin Shinawatra should have been addressed to other parties involved in the on-going political conflict as well. The letter, published in a Thai-language newspaper on Wednesday, urged Thaksin to change his driving energy from being revengeful to something more productive.

Thaksin is better than that [the politics of hatred] and capable of more, Prawase said in his letter.

True, the missive is idealistic, based on wishful thinking even. However, he has writtten it at a time when we had better heed it or the last bonds holding Thailand's nationhood together might fall apart soon. Politics in Thailand has been that of retribution for so long now, and what is most worrisome is not how Thaksin and his opponents feel about each other, but how we, the Thai people, feel toward each other.

Politicians cannot make people feel good about their opponents. It's in their nature to spawn hatred, fear and mistrust against the other side. That's how they win control, elections and state power. This time, however, the cost has been massive. Feelings of hatred, fear and mistrust are running deep, and the higher the stakes are, the arch-rivals have no choice but to make those destructive feelings run even deeper.

Initiatives in Phayao and Chiang Mai over the past two weeks showed some promise. However, the efforts to reconcile yellow and red sympathisers through open, sincere dialogues require greater momentum. The national divide, which started from the top down, has to be solved from the bottom up.

Can this really take place with Thaksin and his enemies, on the surface at least, still making it a winner-takes-all showdown? If so, how much longer will they hold the entire nation hostage?

We want to believe, like Prawase does, that they are "better than that". But if that is true, then we have yet to see any promising signs. Cambodia's bombshell of an offer giving Thaksin sanctuary on its soil just goes to show how far and how dangerous our national conflict is becoming. With bilateral relations already badly strained by the recently refuelled Preah Vihear controversy, the last thing we need is to have Thaksin living as a VIP guest in Phnom Penh.

Prawase has, for a few years now, been trying to wake up what he believes is a silent majority that is neither red nor yellow, or even the moderate red and yellow sympathisers who do not regard ideological differences as a threat. It is a commendable campaign, although at times of war, voices of peace are always overwhelmed.

Besides, the advocacy for peace advocacy is trapped by its own identity. While hatred and prejudice force their way through, clamouring for peace has to work naturally to avoid getting politicised and drawn into either side of the conflict.

Still, desperate times call for desperate measures. Maybe it's time that peace advocacy in our country turned a bit aggressive. Of course, it has tried its best, but it has to do better than that.