So the discovery of a car laden with explosives powerful enough to destroy everything within a one-kilometre radius and allegedly aimed at the motorcade of caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last week should have come as a shock to the whole nation. But something must be seriously wrong with this country, because the alleged attempt on the life of its leader was instead met with doubts and jeers. From newsrooms to public opinion polls and Internet chat rooms, the prevailing view seems to be that the whole assassination theory is a fabrication. It's not that those doubters believe Thaksin's life is worthless, but there are too many loose ends and conflicting explanations from authorities to make the assassination theory credible.

The rush by police investigators to conclude - even before a formal investigation began - that the bomb was meant to kill Thaksin, has already raised a lot of suspicions. Their conflicting reports punched a big hole in their claims that the assassination plot was well planned and well coordinated. They, therefore, were at a loss for words when the owner of a second car, which broke down on Krung Thon Bridge and was initially alleged to be part of the assassination plot, turned up to state his innocence.

Metropolitan Police chief Lt-General Wirot Chantarangsi confidently told a news conference that the car in question had been left on the bridge to force Thaksin's motorcade to take the main street so it would face the full blast of the explosion.

Senior police officers were already doing a sloppy job in selling the assassination theory but it was Prime Minister Thaksin himself who contributed even further to increasing scepticism about the whole thing. Out of his eagerness to convince the public that he was indeed a target of an assassination attempt, Thaksin said things that should have been left to police investigators. Thaksin was either ill briefed or too excited to be able to get his facts straight. Talking to the chiefs of the three armed forces at Government House in the presence of reporters hours after the alleged assassination plot was uncovered, Thaksin claimed that his security guards had spotted the suspicious-looking sedan pass by his residence several times. He even related that the sedan was originally parked in the alley leading to his home, laying in wait for his motorcade.

But the next day, Thaksin blamed the media for inaccurately reporting his account. His new version of things was that the car was never seen near his residence, instead it had been earlier spotted near the exit of the military airport at Don Muang where he was taking a flight for one of his trips to the provinces.

Thaksin apparently forgot that everything he said was recorded by TV cameras. There was definitely no misunderstanding or misinterpretation on the part of the media. What he said at Government House was reported word for word and was heard on every TV newsbreak.

By trumpeting his own conclusion that there was an assassination plot against him, Thaksin was putting pressure on police investigators not to deviate from his theory. Remember his famous remark that those behind the major raid on an Army camp in Narathiwat in January 2004 were just "petty bandits"? Nobody dared to contradict Thaksin for quite some time until it became too obvious that the terrorist acts in the South were being carried out by well-trained and well-organised extremists - not the ordinary crooks he said were involved.

It didn't come as a surprise then that police investigators almost immediately dismissed any notion that the assassination plot might have been cooked up. They claimed the allegation didn't warrant their attention.

It shouldn't be too difficult to imagine what the reaction of the authorities and politicians of the ruling party would have been had the alleged assassination attempt been directed instead at one of Thaksin's main critics. They would have laughed it off just like they did when bombs went off in front of the Democrat Party and at the office of The Manager Group a few months back.

That General Pallop Pinmanee was immediately dismissed as deputy director of the Internal Security Operation Command even before a formal investigation was launched simply because the suspect was his former driver also reinforced suspicions that the whole thing had been stage-managed. And it was certainly no coincidence that dozens of protesters rallied in front of the residence of General Prem Tinsulanonda, president of the Privy Council, the next day urging him to "save Thaksin's life".

It may look like Thaksin has everything to gain from this alleged assassination attempt. He should have the sympathy of the unsuspecting public to help shore up his sinking popularity while at the same time push the aftermath of the beating of anti-Thaksin protesters off the front page. However, this only works when what he is presenting to the public is credible, but for a political leader whose political legitimacy is a big question mark, credibility is something he doesn't have.

Thepchai Yong