But, as General Surayud admitted this week, this softer approach has yet to show results.
General Surayud is, sensibly, warning his countrymen that the road to peace will be arduous.
General Surayud did not want to be prime minister and was not the junta's first choice.
This prompted speculation that one of his predecessors, Surayud Chulanont, was in line for the job.
Surayud Chulanont, a retired general and now interim prime minister, promises a softer approach to the conflict.
General Surayud has apologised for the Thaksin government's brutal mishandling of the conflict.
Mr Surayud, now an adviser to King Bhumibol, had a reputation for cleaning up corruption in the armed forces.
In Jakarta, Mr Surayud said the peace process under way in Indonesia's breakaway Aceh province would serve as a model.
The Malaysians were miffed at General Surayud's claim that funds were being raised for the insurgency by extorting money from restaurants selling Thai tom yum kung soup in Malaysia.
Surayud Chulanont, Thailand's Commander in Chief, has been fighting to rid the army of corrupt soldiers, an intelligence officer based on the Thai-Burmese border says the casinos couldn't operate without the army's tacit permission.
General Surayud Chulanont, the prime minister in Thailand's military-backed government, suggested the creation of a regional forum to solve Myanmar's crisis, comprising ASEAN, India, China and the UN, modelled on the six-party talks on North Korea.
Anti-Thaksin groups suspect that General Surayud is seeking a deal with Mr Thaksin that would let him off with no more than a temporary ban from politics and some tax-dodging fines in return for not making trouble.
General Surayud may want peaceful compromise but this, Supavud Saicheua, an analyst at Phatra Securities, noted this week, is like asking two boxers who dislike and mistrust each other to fight a championship bout without hurting each other, and then to agree to call it a draw.
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