Thai government ousted by military coup

The Thai army has staged a coup, ousting the prime minister and revoking the country's constitution. Most disturbing about this is the man responsible for the coup:

Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, who is known to be close to Thailand's revered monarch and is a Muslim in this Buddhist-dominated nation, took power without a shot being fired.

Thailand has been grappling with an insurgent Muslim population in her southern provinces. Muslims there are agitating for a separate Islamic state. Around 1,700 people have died there since 2004.

Close ties to the king or not, guess where the good General's sympathies will probably lie?