Thailand: Taken by Islamists?

Thailand gets taken over by a Muslim general while its President is at the United Nations, and our media yawns...here are the facts:

Thailand’s southern Muslims, who widely despised ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, say they hope the Muslim general who overthrew him will follow through on his offer to hold peace talks with Islamic separatists.
“I hope that (General Sonthi Boonyaratglin) will be able to solve the problem in the south as he himself is Muslim and can reach out to villagers,” said Kordiya Mapae, 45, a Muslim worker in Yala province.
The three Muslim-majority provinces bordering Malaysia have been plagued by separatist violence and other unrest since January 2004, and Thaksin’s decision to impose emergency rule there in 2005 was widely criticized.
“Thaksin was pretty much loathed among many in the south....."

If only Thaskin had reached out, and try to win the hearts and minds of the rampaging Thai Muslims, perhaps they would not have had to stage an illegal third-worldesque military coup to get their way. I mean, how dare he try to impose law and order while the Islamists of Thailand were exercising their allah-given rights to slaughter anyone who do not worship as they do?

The folks around the hooka in the Middle East coffee bars like to ask, after one cataclysmic event or another, "who benefits most from this?" Well, here's a thought:

An exiled Muslim rebel leader has welcomed Thailand's military coup, saying that he hoped the overthrow of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra could help resolve a bloody Islamic insurgency in the nation's south...
"It is the right thing that the military has taken power to replace the Thaksin Shinawatra government," said Lukman Lima, an exiled leader in one of several groups fighting the central government for a separate Muslim state.
"We hope that the political (situation) can be resolved under General Sonthi Boonyaratkalin as the new leader," Lukman said

And I wonder how he would like to see it resolved?
And I wonder how long until Sharia law is imposed upon Thailand?