The silence in Thai officialdom about the latest development in Burma is deafening. If it persists, the government can forget about its place in international society.
By saying nothing, the government effectively condones the military junta's decision to extend the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi by another six months. To most people who have seen her spend about 10 of the past 15 years either under house arrest or in prison, this is gross.
The government's silence implies it wants to keep on the good side of the junta for reasons held in doubt.
That was clear in October last year when it reacted calmly to the ousting of Gen Khin Nyunt as prime minister, even though he had been the main point of contact.
Few can forget how Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra raised eyebrows by confirming the sacking of the general. No less memorable was his then Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai's haste in promising co-operation with the new Burmese prime minister, Soe Win.
In fact, the Thai government, like most others, had been surprised. It had cultivated such close relations with Gen Khin Nyunt that on one of his first visits to Thailand, he was shown round the Shinawatra family's telecommunications empire.
The former military intelligence chief is now under house arrest after receiving a 44-year suspended sentence on corruption charges in July. His allies have been removed from top posts, and the hunt continues for any one linked to him. Gen Khin Nyunt was not only the presentable face of a regime widely shunned. He was willing to talk to Aung San Suu Kyi, and called for her release as part of the seven-point "road map to democracy" he drew up.
The Thaksin government apparently has not succeeded in cultivating as good a contact since the general's fall from grace. But it has tried to keep channels of communications open. Most recently, Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon paid a two-day visit to Rangoon in September. But the news he came back with - that next year would be a turning point for the process of national reconciliation - seems to have been undone by the generals' latest decision to continue the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Thaksin government's policy on Burma has focused on economics, pursuing a scheme initiated by the previous Chuan government to bridge the development gap between Thailand and late-comers to Asean such as Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Burma.
Relaunched as ACMECS - or Ayewaddy, Chao Phaya Mekong Economic Co-operation Strategy - the plan's leaders, including Mr Thaksin, first met in Bagan, Burma in 2003. At the latest summit in Thailand earlier this month, the leaders came up with a pledge to fight bird flu and other infectious diseases.
But Mr Thaksin has not been clear on the matter of political reform, unlike his predecessor, Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, who signalled his dismay with the lack of it by not visiting Burma while he was in power. His government also persisted in its call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.
In the face of inaction by governments in the region, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Inter-parliamentary Burma Caucus formed a year ago has become an anchor. The caucus brings together lawmakers from Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand and feature Senators Kraisak Choonhavan and Jon Ungpakorn as active Thai members. At a steering committee meeting in Bangkok in September, they decided to begin moves to suspend Burma's membership of Asean within the next 12 months if Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners are not released, and no concrete steps towards democratisation are achieved.
By keeping quiet, the Thai government reveals its lack of access to the junta. That could be the fault of using personal connections rather than policy or principles to steer relations with a self-appointed leadership.
Anuraj Manibhandu is Editorial Pages Editor, Bangkok Post