The long Songkran weekend offered the Surayud government and the Council for National Security (CNS) a much-needed reprieve from the hordes of seemingly intractable political, economic and social problems that contribute to continued instability, which many fear could lead to violent confrontation. Let's hope that the interim administration and the military junta spent this time of relative calm wisely and productively, taking stock of their achievements and failures and thinking of how best to ensure that Thailand is put back on the track towards a full and sustainable democracy.

To accomplish this they need to start improving their working relationship, which has been damaged by differences in their worldviews and the approaches each side prefers in efforts to root out the culture of corruption and deceit perpetrated by deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, implement reforms to strengthen democratic institutions, bring about reconciliation between the rural masses and the urban middle class, as well as promote political awareness among the people.

Unless the government and the junta make the extra effort to try to harmonise their fractious ideas, there is no guarantee that they will be able to deliver on their promises. Worse, their justification for staging the coup to overthrow the Thaksin government will ring hollow and their self-appointed role as restorers of democracy will be cast into doubt. It makes no sense for each side to be competing with the other in terms of popularity ratings because both the interim government and the CNS are supposed to be in it together.

The government and the CNS only have about six more months to promulgate a new constitution and then restore full democracy in this country through a free and fair election. Both must remember that they are supposed to work themselves out of their jobs and to disband - not to create a sense of dependency among people or the false impression that democracy needs their protection in order to rebuild itself.

The worst thing that could ever happen to Thailand after the September 19, 2006 coup would be for the military to refuse to go back to the barracks and submit itself to the next democratically elected civilian government. Members of the CNS must be told in no uncertain terms that any attempt to manipulate or subvert democracy for personal gain in the run-up to the next general election or thereafter will be considered a crime no different than those committed by the Thaksin government that they overthrew.

The most disturbing development in Thai society over the past several weeks has been the wild speculation about the possibility of a violent confrontation between security forces and groups loyal to the former prime minister who plan to demonstrate in Bangkok to challenge the authority of the Surayud government and the CNS.

The Constitution Court is scheduled to rule on the possible dissolution of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai Party, the Democrat Party, or both by the end of May. It remains to be seen how supporters of the Thai Rak Thai and Democrat parties, the country's two largest political parties, will react to the Constitution Court's verdict. What is disturbing are comments made by government leaders, CNS members, and the mass media to the effect that such political violence seems inevitable.

In other words, politics in this country has been reduced to a struggle between the Surayud government and the CNS on the one side and Thaksin and his loyal henchmen on the other - both sides seeming to treat people as if they were dispensable pawns or passive spectators. Little is made of the role that the majority of Thai people can play to avert such a violent scenario. Most disturbing of all are the thinly-veiled threats made by CNS members of the possibility of a coup or a counter-coup in the event that an untoward incident involving a clash between demonstrators and security forces gets out of control.

Members of the Surayud government and the CNS, who together wield virtual absolute power at this time, must do whatever is in their authority to prevent violent confrontation by using persuasion - not through intimidation or threatening gestures.

The interim government and the junta, who call themselves restorers of democracy, are supposed to inspire confidence in their ability to create the kind of stable political environment and public space that are prerequisites for a rational public discourse that informs a peaceful political process.