Dear Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, I am not a big fan of your government, nor am I a follower of Suthep Thaugsuban's Muan Maha Prachachon, or the Greatest Mass Uprising.
Your options seem to narrow more and more each day that goes by, as is the area for "non-partisanship" where I _ and hopefully a large enough group of people who do not want to side with either of the fighting camps _ would like to stand.
So I write this open letter to you, not because I want you to cave in to the pressure of an uprising that is falling squarely on your shoulders. I write you because I wish you would do the right thing in tackling this biggest crisis in your premiership.
I write to you because even though the situation seems to suggest that both your government and Mr Suthep are still at loggerheads and bent on winning this battle at all costs, I still hope you will try to show the way and set the country on the right path towards lasting peaceful coexistence.
You can say that I write to you out of my own self-interest. I wish that a space for non-extremist, non-partisan citizens in this country will be preserved, as that space seems diminished with each tear gas canister that is thrown into the crowd, with each speech Mr Suthep makes, and with each counter-argument issued by members of your government.
I also wish that as the country's leader, you will see the need to take the higher ground and to win in the longer run, despite what might appear to be immediate setbacks on the part of yourself and your government.
Fire your strategists, madam PM. Whoever has been giving you advice on the blanket amnesty push, on how to handle its enormous impacts and how to respond to the swelling mass protest, they have to go.
It's obvious now that whoever told you and the Pheu Thai Party to push it all the way with the amnesty was dead wrong. You need to hold them accountable to show the angry public that you have realised the mistake.
Your tactic of saying the government has retreated by withdrawing the bill from the Senate while retaining your self-righteousness by saying that you did it out of goodwill to forge reconciliation just won't cut it. It's time for you to own up to the mistake.
A public apology could go a long way towards appeasing the protesters. Many of them are enraged because they think you don't realise how badly you have crossed the line of decency in democratic governance. They are right in this respect. You and your government owe them an apology, not excuses.
Fire those who told you to repeat the mantra that it's parliament, not your government, which pushed the amnesty deal too. The message, which you repeated over and over, has only brought more people out to the street. Any effective advisers would have changed track for you since day one, right after they saw the thousands gathering on Ratchadamnoen Avenue.
Fire your ministers who keep on appearing on the red-shirt stage as partisan groups began battling it out on the street of Ramkhamhaeng. These rabble-rousers are too short-sighted and immature to serve in these positions.
The list would include your Interior Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan, Education Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng and Deputy Commerce Minister Nattawut Saikuar.
Madam PM, it seems inevitable now that you will eventually have to dissolve the House.
It is the only option within your power that could serve to ease the crisis at hand, albeit temporarily. You would want to play it well.
You are right in pointing out that Mr Suthep's proposal of setting up a "People's Council" and "dream team government" to reform the country so that it has a free and fair elections, plus no corruption, is questionable.
Who will pick the members of the so-called "council"? There is no guarantee either that the country will be able to return to a functioning democracy after implementation of such a self-styled "reform", as proposed by Mr Suthep.
Dissolution of the House, however, could serve as a safety valve that releases the pent-up pressure that is threatening to boil over.
It could persuade a certain number of people to stop taking to the streets. If so, it might also persuade Mr Suthep, who would have fewer followers by that time, to return to the negotiation table.
Madam PM, I can't say that I would like you to win this political conflict. I can only wish that you do the right thing.
Atiya Achakulwisut is Deputy Editor, Bangkok Post.