General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, the coup leader, has made a big mistake in failing to freeze the assets of major politicians associated with the Thaksin regime immediately after the September 19 coup.

This mistake is coming back to haunt him and the Council for National Security (CNS).

"They are not decisive enough. After the coup, they should have frozen the assets of politicians and let them explain how they accumulated their wealth. The burden of proof would fall on the politicians. But as it has turned out, the burden of proof is on the Assets Examination Committee, which in the end might not be able to come up with much evidence," a retired senior government official said.

"As they have failed to freeze the assets of the politicians, now the politicians can transfer their assets to somewhere else and also have time to destroy all [incriminating] documents."

Middle-class support for the CNS is eroding two months after the coup. Pressure has been mounting on the coup leaders to fulfil its four objectives in staging the coup, including going after corruption in the previous Thaksin regime.

One political source pointed out that Meechai Ruchuphand, the president of the National Legislative Assembly, and Gen Winai Phathiyakul, the secretary-general of the National Security Council, objected to the assets of politicians being "frozen". They argued such action might backfire later on because past governments had failed confiscate the assets of the politicians.

Gen Sonthi said in a recent interview it was difficult for the CNS to do anything right because the Thai public was difficult to please. The military rulers, he added, wanted to follow the justice system when it came to tackling corruption in the previous government. This lead them not to freeze politicians' assets.

The Assets Examination Committee, set up immediately after the coup to go after the assets of the politicians, could prove to be a paper tiger.

One political source indicated that Khunying Jaruvan Maintaka has proved to have a larger-than-life profile in her combat against corruption. Yet when it comes to wrapping up and forwarding cases for legal prosecution, Khunying Jaruvan, an accountant, might not have all the necessary details or evidence to help the Assets Examination Committee to bring former politicians to justice.

With the CNS mired in such difficulties, Thaksin Shinawatra seems to be having a good time with his regional tours, creating headlines with his visits to China, Hong Kong and Indonesia.

Thai Rak Thai's support among the local heads at the district, subdistrict and village levels in the North and Northeast remains strong.

As not a single Thai Rak Thai member has had assets frozen, money can still be diverted to the local web of connections to create a political force to be reckoned with at any time.

The People's Alliance for Democracy and other Thaksin-bashers are closely watching the military rulers and interim regime. They feel left out of the reform process and might turn their attacks against the coup leaders and interim government also. News reports and opinion pieces in the Manager Group plus an interview with Prasong Soonsiri, former allies, reflect this possible trend.

Meanwhile, it appears that the Surayud government would like to distance itself from the CNS. But can a clam be separated from the shell?

Thanin Kraivixien, who served as prime minister between 1976 and 1977 following a military coup, was a subject of ridicule after he uttered his infamous clam/shell metaphor. Then Thanin said his government was like a clam, while the military rulers acted as a shell to give it protection. In short, the clam and the shell were inseparable, like his government and the military rulers.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont would be very disturbed if anybody were to use the clam/shell metaphor to characterise the relationship between his interim government and the CNS. Gen Surayud has been striving to distance himself from the coup makers to establish credibility for his own government.

It can't be seen to be too close for comfort with the CNS, headed by Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin.

And so far Gen Surayud has scored some points by gaining international recognition. At the Apec Summit in Hanoi, he received tacit support from US President George Bush, who told him that he understood the Thai situation Gen Surayud was trying to cope with.

Gen Sonthi's dilemma is that after the coup he transferred power to the Assets Examination Committee and the Surayud government to carry on the task of probing the assets of former politicians and running the country, respectively. This left the CNS with little left to do, except oversee security while having the power to remove the prime minister from office.

But if the Assets Examination Committee can't do things right, and the Thai Rak Thai is able to regroup while the Surayud government looks after its own business, then Gen Sonthi may have to take a second look at the CNS. The outlook does not bode well for the military rulers.

Thanong Khanthong

The Nation