As the Cambodia border spat intensifies, with both sides reinforcing their respective arms, the government of Paetongtarn Shinawatra needs to overhaul its efforts in dealing with Phnom Penh to ensure it can control and protect the national interest.
Attempts to de-escalate the border situation have gone nowhere as Cambodia keeps throwing cold water on suggestions that both sides leave the disputed area in Chong Bok district in Ubon Ratchathani unoccupied as a way to avoid any further confrontation.
Cambodia maintains it will keep its armed forces in place there, despite the Thai army's opposition.
It must be said that the past performance of the government in handling this difficult issue has hardly met the expectations of the public.
Instead, the public has witnessed a lack of integrity among state agencies, notably the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the military, and those tasked with security, not to mention the fact that the army and the government have barely been on the same wavelength from the get-go.
This has seemingly exacerbated the crisis stemming from a fatal clash of soldiers in Chong Bok on May 28.
Incoherent policy has also brought into question whether Thailand is really ready for the much-touted Joint Border Commission (JBC), which is tentatively scheduled to meet in Phnom Penh next Friday.
More importantly, Cambodian strongman Hun Sen has threatened to dump bilateral mechanisms like the JBC and bring the issue of disputed areas to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) instead.
These disputed areas are not only restricted to Chong Bok but also include Ta Muan Thom, and some satellite temples in Surin province, as well as Preah Vihear.
Yet despite all this, the JBC remains an important option.
Some analysts believe the root cause of this spat may be a series of domestic problems, including challenges by the Sam Rainsy-led opposition, that have driven the Cambodian government to aggressively use its nationalistic trump card, as it anticipates more economic problems on the horizon.
After all, the Vietnam issue, which saw Phnom Penh face more negative sentiment for allegedly showing favour to old comrades in Vietnam, has now been cleared up.
At the same time, the repeated boasts of warm ties between former premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- father of Paetongtarn -- and Hun Sen are fuelling suspicions among the Thai public.
The government must review its past performance in dealing with Cambodia and fix a number of problems immediately.
It needs to adopt some crucial measures, including the formation of a special task force, and involve all key agencies in handling this mounting crisis, as called for by some prominent scholars recently.
Cambodia needs to know that such ultranationalism aimed at raising the popularity of the Hun Manet administration will not be tolerated.
Cambodia, too, should adjust its strategies, or feel the heat from tougher border trade measures, perhaps starting with restrictions on the transportation of petrol.
The Thai side should do its best to influence its neighbour into seeing the necessity of keeping the JBC option alive, and recognising the benefit of solving the problem through peaceful means with the aid of technical tools, rather than allowing the conflict to blow up into open war, which could spell huge losses for both sides.