If Thaksin's intention was to burn all of his bridges, he certainly succeeded. After all, with the way things are going, the caretaker prime minister has every reason to believe that his return to Government House is a foregone conclusion. His apparent logic: why compromise when you have everything going for you?

But the cheerleading he got from tens of thousands of people gathered at Sanam Luang was nothing more than a smokescreen designed to hide the widespread discontent that is fast snowballing into broad-based anger waiting to explode.

The Thai Rak Thai leader might have been buoyed for the day by all of the shouts of "Thaksin, fight on!" and the sea of "We love Thaksin" banners and stickers. But he should know that political grandstanding can in no way drown out the cries of "Thaksin, get out!" currently reverberating across the country.

Confident of his grass-roots support - thanks to his endless stream of populist policies - Thaksin has targeted just about everyone who is critical of his policies and political behaviour as his enemies. For his own political survival, the prime minister is perilously pitting Thais against each other.

It's quite interesting to note that even the military top brass that was once seen as providing bedrock support for Thaksin was last week reported to be trying to bring the prime minister to his senses. Even though they did not say it right to his face that he should consider quitting, the commanders of the three armed forces dropped enough hints for the prime minister to understand the mood among his top-ranking generals.

Although a military coup is something unwelcome and even unthinkable under the present political circumstances, the influence of the armed forces over any political change cannot be discounted. To be sure, charges of conflict of interest, cronyism and adverse effects from the sale of Shin Corp shares have not been lost on the military commanders, who are no less offended by Thaksin's frequent shows of arrogance that borders on challenging Royal power.

Thaksin's apparently impromptu decision to rally his supporters at Sanam Luang is reminiscent of Chairman Mao Zedong's mobilisation of the Red Guards in the mid-1960s to counter dissenting factions in the Chinese Communist Party and the military who were said to be plotting against him. That confrontation resulted in one of the most disastrous chapters in Chinese history.

Judging from his remarks and behaviour, it's more than obvious that Thaksin not only rejected all the compromise solutions put forth by academics and technocrats of good social standing to guide the country out of the current political dead-end, but also tried to foment political division by casting them as his adversaries.

Thaksin's pledge to make political reform a top priority of his new administration is a thinly veiled expediency to pacify critics and deflect charges that he was bent on perpetuating a parliamentary dictatorship. With his political legitimacy in doubt from the outset, the April 2 election will merely be an exercise to whitewash the prime minister, with his reform promise just a meaningless sales pitch.

The opposition parties' boycott of the election casts another big question mark over the legitimacy of the government that it will produce. There are already concerns that the poll may not even be able to elect the 500 MPs constitutionally required for the House of Representatives to function, not to mention electing a prime minister.

And even if Thaksin manages to muddle through his biggest political crisis and returns to power through the ballot box, his ability to govern is questionable. The street demonstrations that in all likelihood will intensify unless he quits will not end with the election. The huge anti-Thaksin rally at Sanam Luang and the well-organised march by the protesters to and from Government House on Sunday night disputed the prime minister's repeated claims that those who have been calling for his resignation were just a handful of "hooligans".

Even though the anti-Thaksin campaign has been peaceful so far, there are fears that the protesters may see violence as their only recourse if they feel they cannot bring about change by shouting or marching alone. And Thaksin's inherent belligerence is only hardening the position of his opponents, who now represent practically every segment of Thai society.

Thaksin is only buying time with his political manoeuvring. The April 2 election may help prolong his political longevity but at a heavy cost to social unity.

Well-known academic and former student activist Thirayuth Boonmi was right to paint Thaksin as a political leader whose fate is now written on the wall. Let's hope he goes down without bringing the country down with him.

Thepchai Yong