New Thailand Army Chief

General Prayuth Chan-ocha, who is poised to be the new Army commander-in-chief, will have received an intriguing torch from incumbent Anupong Paochinda in October. It was under General Sonthi Boonyaratklin that the Thai Army re-emerged from years of non-interference in politics with a bang and his successor Anupong has presided over the most volatile period since early 1990s concerning the Army's relations with the Thai public. Prayuth's mission as a Thai military leader is simply to heal the wounds. That is a very difficult task, not least because Prayuth himself will be considered by many to be part of the problem. Already, he has been touted as "the general who put down the red rebellion". How can he achieve an Army reconciliation with one half of Thailand resentfully giving him that name tag? The answer to this foremost question has to be given by the man himself and it will go a long way to determining how far the country is from genuine mending.

Prayuth's rise to the Army's helm will be backed by what looks like a well-planned consolidation of power. The military line-up leaked to the media this past week indicates smooth transition, continuity, stability and unity in the armed forces, but only because the top ranks had been a product of manoeuvring in the wake of the 2006 coup. This domination surely will have left a large number of capable officers on the sidelines. But if there is to be grudge or dissent among certain sections of the military, it seems we can worry about that later.

The issue at hand is the political impact of a strong, dominant Army against a backdrop of high uncertainty in parliamentary politics. Thailand as a fragile democracy will find itself in an odd situation. Badly split armed forces at times like this will further destabilise everything, therefore the rise en bloc of Prayuth and Co couldn't be too bad. But on the other hand, the generals' political leverage, already high at the moment, will increase still.

Sonthi did not need to play a balancing act. He was a coup leader to begin with. Anupong tried, at least apparently, but Thailand's trouble boiled over during his reign that saw neither side trust his motives or action. At the end of a turbulence, while one half of the country fell in love with an Army spokesman who even became a cover boy for a trendy magazine, the other half still finds it hard to forgive and forget the bloodshed and losses of life. There must be many people in the latter half who see Prayuth's ascendency as an insult to injury.

Prayuth will have a full four years at the top, meaning that starting from next year he will always face the possibility of a Pheu Thai-led government. How he and a pro-red government will handle each other is the big question at the moment. How Prayuth can prevent that question from becoming a destabilising factor will be his main challenge.

A lot will depend on the red shirts but the onus will be on Prayuth. He will be closely watched by the international community, much of which has perceived what happened in April and May with sceptical eyes toward the Army. That, however, will be the least of his prospective problems. The trouble with Thailand has been that nobody who matters has been able to be perceived as a real neutral. For a general credited - or blamed - for crushing the red revolt, to win over both sides looks like a mission impossible.

But Prayuth will have to rise above all that. If he really honours the true essence of his job, that is. Tolerance, patience and true understanding of democracy are never more important as the pre-requisites for men in his position. He will have to, like what is said in a royally-composed song, dream the impossible dream and patch the leaf of gold at the back of a Buddha statue, where nobody will be able to see it or is aware of it. Nobody but himself.

The Nation