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All things considered, we are not just talking about him trying to stay safe from the ravenous tigers and crocodiles who are none other than his political foes and so-called "friends", but about him as a Thai version of the Greek Damocles.

In Greek mythology, Damocles, a courtier of Dionysius II - a fourth-century BC tyrant of Syracuse - was granted a day in the life of a ruler, with all the pomp and vanity that comes with such a position of power. The only problem was that Dionysius, in order to show Damocles the perils that come with the territory, ordered that a sword be hung from the ceiling by a horse hair over the head of Damocles. Given this rude awakening, which forced him to rethink his idea of what made the good life, Damocles begged to leave the court.

The challenges awaiting the new government are enormous. The world's economic and financial health is very poor, and there is no known panacea. No one can determine the ripple effect in markets around the globe of the US subprime debacle. The demise of major American financial houses like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and AIG makes the world's financial terrain very menacing indeed. Whether or not the latest "American Contagion" can be effectively controlled may prove to be another "Is the king of France bald?" conundrum. The volatility of oil prices is an imponderable factor that could further exacerbate the economic slide.

The two most important foreign-exchange earners for Thailand are exports and tourism. It will be very difficult for these two sectors, which rely on the world's economic health, to maintain the steady growth they have thus far enjoyed. The result could further stagnate our struggling economy.

Meanwhile, the domestic cow can no longer be milked. Anybody venturing out of the capital will see how dead the provincial economy is. Severe drought in some areas, coupled with floods in others, has ruined the livelihoods of many. Their troubles have gone practically unaddressed as our crippled government has little time or inclination to extend help.

The high price of commodities such as rice and grain has not done much to lift poor Thai farmers, as was widely speculated. In reality, the money these farmers receive for their hard work is not dictated by the world market, or by the government, but solely by the mills. Nothing changes.

In terms of well thought-out, synchronised, medium- and long-term national development policies, there has been nothing to speak of. For the last several months, erratic and haphazard measures undertaken by the administration have been like a bad job of patching up large holes in a flat tyre. Inevitably, attention to the situation in the deep South waned in proportion to the political battle in Bangkok. The recent military "surge" to deal with the deepening problems in the region has yielded little evidence of success. Where we go from here, with this persistent, complex political quandary, is anybody's guess. The imminent collapse of the Abdullah Badawi government and the rising clout of Anwar Ibrahim and his faction add to uncertainties over security collaboration between Thailand and Malaysia, which is a crucial condition for a political solution to the problem.

To the East, Cambodia has demonstrated its dogged determination to stop short at nothing to prevail over border issues. The latest incursion by Cambodian troops at the Ta Kwai temple in Surin, the Cambodian challenge to Thailand's suitability to host the Asean summit, and its well-planned maneouvres at the United Nations on this issue, point to the extent of the trouble we are in, and will be for some time, with Cambodia. In this game of chicken, Cambodia is unlikely to blink.

More troubling, the country has been plagued by the Rashomon effect - a term derived from the famed 1950 Kurosawa movie of the same name. The subjectivity of perception and interpretation has rendered the divide in every segment of society so deep, and mutual suspicion so poisonous, that it will take more than a Herculean effort, even by a leader of unblemished record and rock-solid reputation, to unify us. The last time anybody looked, no one fitted that description on our political horizon.

Most importantly, the awakening of our political consciousness is the cat that is out of the bag, or the toothpaste that has been squeezed out of the tube. Regardless of how and why the People's Alliance for Democracy has come about, regardless of how national and international opinion has condemned it, regardless of the motives of individuals behind the movement, the PAD has unquestionably unleashed our pent-up dissatisfaction about how the affairs of the country have been handled by elected officials.

We used to be meek about rampant corruption and silent about abuse of power and limitless greed that benefit and enrich not the country but the powerful few. We did not even ask why we had to accept them. We have suffered fools gladly.

Now, many have started not only to ask why, but why not. Why can't our country have an honest government? Why are politicians allowed to launder their misdeeds by winning at the polls, and not punished by laws and condemned by society like the rest of us regular mortals? Why can't our cabinet be filled with clean and capable hands with vision beyond their noses and their pocketbooks that work diligently for the sake of the country? Why aren't there more people willing to sacrifice personal gain for the sake of the greater good? Why can't we stop the practice of dividing up the country's pie and passing it around for the familiar vultures that devour not dead pieces of meat, but the living future of the country? Why can't we build a society that knows the real meaning of honour?

The road to the premiership for the new head of government was not strewn with roses. The money politics and horse-trading that got him to this office will not end with his appointment. There is one pink elephant in the room among the many. And these elephants have the genuine potential to trample down this uneasy political equation and ultimately the tenure of the leader and the administration.