Have you seen Abhisit doing this before?

Very few people have seen PM Abhisit Vejjajiva in this playful pose. Perhaps, under the current political stressful mood, that's exactly what the prime minister needs to do: forget the red leaders' ambivalence and get the other groups behind him.

But that's easier said than done. By proposing his 5-point "national reconciliation" plan leading to a Nov 14 election, Abhisit has effectively alienated ths yellows and the pinks and the "multi-colours." And he knows it. "The more they loved me, the more upset they were when they thought I was betraying them," he told an interviewer in a televised interview yesterday.

Now that the red shirts have refused to respond with a definite timeline for ending the protest at Rajpraong Intersection, the PM has set May 15 as the deadline to "take it or leave it."

But then Abhisit knows that he can't just rely on the yellow and the multi-colours. Now, he needs to earn the trust of "the rest of the country" so that he doesn't fall victim to any new pressure.

He will have to go back to his playful gesture to overcome the prevailing stalling game.