He didn't put it in so many words. But it was obvious that Thaksin's populist growth-oriented style was to be given a proper burial.

The challenge will be tough for this government to make "sufficiency" the buzzword for its economic platform. First came the obvious, if rather naïve, question: Does sufficiency mean slow growth? How will foreign investors view this apparent step backward in the conventional interpretation of sufficiency?

If this question was valid, it was only because Thaksin's reign had been marked by marketing gimmicks, puffery and the numbers game. Populism was eroding the social fabric while politicians were hoisting the growth-at-whatever-cost flag. Quality of life came under threat as the populace was hooked on consumption-led debts and false hopes of the shaky promise of wealth, mostly reliant on politicians' largesse.

Premier Surayud's call to go back to basics is a politically bold move because it will pin economic growth on more solid ground. It is a move based on good governance, transparency, morality and national reconciliation. It's the opposite of the materialistic, amoral and politically motivated approach that was the hallmark of "Thaksinomics".

While corruption within the powers-that-be rose dramatically before, because even the leadership wallowed in all sorts of conflicts of interests, the current Cabinet is expected to be clean, honest and non-partisan - and determined to fight graft in all its forms and shapes. That, when all is said and done, is the very crux of the difference.

Can sufficiency economy and capitalism go together? This, of course, isn't the dual-track panacea of the Thaksin era. But as Deputy Premier and Industry Minister Kosit Panpiemras insisted when questioned about his policy blueprint to be submitted to the National Legislative Assembly: "Sufficiency economy not only doesn't clash with the principle of capitalism, it in fact is a forceful supplement. Why? Because sufficiency economy will serve as the vital foundation of an efficient capitalist system."

If "know-who" was more important than "know-how" in the previous government dominated by business-politicos - government-linked businesses were taking over major business concerns through political connections for their own benefits - the Surayud administration's pledge is to promote sufficiency economy based on transparency and good governance.

Kosit, who was responsible for drawing up the new, alternative national blueprint, says: "If there is transparency, if everyone has equal access to information, the market mechanism would work freely and fairly." Recent hard-learned lessons have underscored the serious danger of the scandalous merger of business with political interests that gave electoral democracy a bad name.

"If there is monopoly, if the playing field isn't level, free competition wouldn't be possible," he said. Does that mean heads will roll and all the projects tainted with political smell would face the axe? That would go against the promise to make national reconciliation one of the top priorities.

"We aren't going to adopt the negative attitude of first looking at the label and ask: Whose project is this? We are going to treat them all equally and ask the same question of every one of the schemes: Is it fair? Is it transparent? What isn't fair or transparent will of course have to come under scrutiny, change and revision…."

Kosit's approach is a clear contrast with Thaksin's style and it's a stark lesson in paradox. Thaksin was a businessman who became a prime minister to run a big government guiding the private sector in every major way. Kosit, on the other hand, is a bureaucrat-turned-banker-turned-politician who has made it loud and clear that his will be a small government, where businessmen will take the lead to push the economy forward.

Is the new sufficiency economic package a hard sell? If good governance, transparency, moral standards, social accountability and private-sector initiatives are what constitute the digital age of this "flat-world" investment environment, then this is the next big thing that every major business enterprise is in fact demanding from all responsible governments.

The only concern is whether the Surayud-led government will be able to muster the necessary political will to pull it through. It may not sound politically sexy. But then, this doesn't mean that with some real work and consistency in getting the message across, the principle of sufficiency economy can't end up being all the rage, especially when the international community realises that it's the real stuff and the new government means business when it talks business.

Suthichai Yoon