BANGKOK — Thailand's government has launched the first Malay-language television channel geared toward the insurgency-plagued south's Muslim-majority audience. Muslims in Thailand's southernmost Muslim-dominated provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat say they are treated as second-class citizens by predominantly Buddhist Thai authorities. More than 5,000 people have been killed there since a Muslim insurgency flared in 2004. Some militants, mainly ethnic Malays, have called for a separate Muslim state. Project supervisor Chamroon Den-udom said Thursday that the new channel would foster an understanding between Malay Muslims and Thai Buddhists in the region. — AP
