The Supreme Administrative Court ruled on Thursday that the Thaksin government had acted improperly in pursuit of policy by seeking the listing of Egat stocks. In a nutshell, the court put everything back to square one. Egat will remain a state enterprise and national asset that cannot be privatised, for now.

It was a personal setback for caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and a major triumph for pro-democracy movements and public-interest groups who have staunchly opposed the privatisation of state enterprises, which has yielded handsome profits to well-connected politicians and their cronies. The groups intend to regain other state enterprises that have already been privatised, such as PTT, MCOT and others, because the real beneficiaries of such deals were the politicians and their families who had privileged access to share subscriptions.

The court ruling may have paved the way for public-interest groups to seek legal action against Thaksin and the entire Cabinet for the attempted sale of national assets which they were supposed to protect. It depends whether the police and judiciary have the nerve to accept such public complaints. The groups intend to march to the Police Headquarters tomorrow and file criminal charges against Thaksin and his team.

As the court ruling reverberated among those who had hoped to reap full benefit from Egat's stock listing, Thaksin and his team professed to be unperturbed. Nay, more: they simply refused to accept any responsibility for any of the lead-up to the attempted privatisation.

Legal luminary caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam feigned innocence. "I don't know what damage has been done by this plan, except perhaps to Egat employees seeking to buy the stock," he said.

Thaksin was even more direct in his avoidance of accountability: "We are not responsible. It may have been due to some legal mishap and conflict among agencies." It was plain that by this gibberish response he sought to avoid any admission that what he and the entire Cabinet had was wrong and illegal.

The Thai public has never expected to see any sense of shame displayed by politicians, let alone a sense of decency, but it underestimated once again the degree of callousness among these holders of public office whose lust for self-interest has never ceased to amaze even the pessimists.

Thaksin and his Cabinet just brushed aside the public outcry for their resignation as caretaker government to show responsibility. If they had had any sensitivity at all, they would not have stuck around till now, especially when tens of thousands of people have been holding rallies in the city for months and are resorting to street demonstrations.

Thaksin has just hung tough and ignored the ground swell of public discontent. What he wants is the result of the general election on April 2, when he expects at least 19 million voters to give him a mandate to rule again. This is possible, because Thai Rak Thai candidates in most constituencies are in a one-horse race after the three main opposition parties decided to boycott the polls.

Adversaries and critics of Thaksin have to admire his endurance after heaping so much ridicule and contempt on him all these months. All kind of foul names have been thrown at the beleaguered CEO, but he is proving to still possess a super Teflon quality to withstand sharp-tongued attacks. The saying "you can win over all enemies but the shameless" is all too true, as fiery orators at the rallies have found for themselves to their growing frustration.

The march yesterday was supposed to be the biggest ever organised by the pro-democracy alliance. Still it was not enough to have any visible effect on Thaksin's mind. He just maintained indifference to the denunciation and contempt.

What kind of power can convince Thaksin that it's time for him to step down because the entire nation is at risk of bloodletting between the factions for and against him? None so far. There is a belief that neither side wants to shed blood or resort to violence, which makes Thaksin feel safe enough to cling on to his seat.

Thaksin knows well that as soon as a gunshot is fired, it marks the end of his power. By that time, nobody will care whether he is willing to accept responsibility or not. It will be his. That's why he still hopes that classmates and friends in the armed forces will be on his side if hell breaks loose.

Despite the vow of the pro-democracy alliance to maintain peaceful demonstrations, there is no guarantee against a flashpoint for violence. Even as the general election approaches, not many people want to believe that it will actually take place as all parties gun to win the high-stake political power game.

The test of will and tolerance of all parties in the conflict has been going on for too long and is quite unprecedented in terms of its peacefulness. Let's hope that things can remain so until a solution presents itself, so that Thailand can go down in history with a record that political transition or regime change could take place without violence or bloodshed.

 Sopon Onkgara