Visitors look at devil masks displayed during a Halloween promotions at a shopping center in Bangkok. In a city that loves to celebrate any holiday, Halloween is catching on not just as a kid's party at international schools but as a big night out on the town -- and a marketing opportunity to draw more shoppers into stores.

But things are beginning to look dark for Thailand's 65 million souls of whom 94.6% are Buddhist and 4.6% of whom are Muslim. Soon, 3 provinces will have limited Sharia Law, which I suppose is like being almost pregnant. The new Muslim prime minister of Thailand, installed by military coup, has apologized to Muslims in the south:

Johad Watch, Thai PM apologizes to Muslims for ex-govt's tactics, calls for Sharia

Thailand's interim prime minister publicly apologized Thursday for the former government's hard-line policies against an Islamic insurgency, promising an investigation into allegations of human rights abuses by the administration deposed in a recent coup.

In an unexpected initiative, Chulanont Surayud also said he would urge the limited use of Islamic law in Thailand's Muslim-majority south to settle some disputes, especially over inheritance and family affairs, he said.

Surayud was accompanied by army chief Gen. Sondhi Boonyaratkalin, a practicing Muslim who led the Sept. 19 coup. Previous governments have shown little acceptance of Muslim culture.

The southernmost provinces of Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat are the only ones with Muslim majorities in predominantly Buddhist Thailand. An insurgency in the three provinces has claimed more than 1,800 lives since January 2004.