Word: thai
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Although Thailand is predominantly Buddhist, millions of Muslims live in the country's three southernmost provinces, which Thailand annexed a century ago. An insurgency has simmered for three years, with some militants calling for an independent homeland. Many Thai Muslims have long felt marginalized by the Buddhist majority, and the sense of alienation may get a lot worse. This spring, thousands of Buddhist monks took to Bangkok's streets clamoring for their beliefs to be designated in the constitution as Thailand's sole state religion. On June 4, charter writers rejected the call for an official faith, but growing...
...Supporters of Siriporn's beaten Japanese opponent, Ayaka Miyano, have complained that the Thai fighter profited from a home-ring advantage. Certainly, the crowd assembled at the Klong Prem Prison, affectionately known as the "Bangkok Hilton," was on Siriporn's side. Between rounds, transvestite inmates performed a saucy fashion show, while a prison band serenaded the audience with Thai folk songs. But the claim of home-crowd advantage will soon be tested when the Black Rose, now a free woman, defends her title against the winner of an upcoming matchup between a Mexican and a German...
...Siriporn is not the first Thai to box her way out of jail. Two years ago, fellow inmate Wannee Chaisena faced another Japanese, Nanako Kikuchi, in the 2005 world straw-weight title bout. Like Siriporn, Wannee was in prison for dealing methamphetamine, or "crazy drug" as it's known in Thai. Unlike Siriporn, Wannee suffered a technical knockout. But the beaten fighter still managed an early exit from prison the following year, when Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej pardoned her, along with three other female prison pugilists...
...coincidence that Thai women's prisons are producing such a steady stream of boxing contenders - both Siriporn and Wannee are products of a prison boxing camp started by correction officials hoping to provide women prisoners with a steady source of income after their release. For a country of 65 million, Thailand has a relatively high incarceration rate, with roughly 250,000 people behind bars. Most are locked up on drug convictions. The use of methamphetamine is a particularly pernicious problem among poor, urban Thais, in part because cheap pills flood over the border from Burma, one of the world...
...jail. Like many inmates, she must have worried about the threat of relapse. Now, Siriporn has told the press, her need for speed is gone. It has been replaced by the adrenaline rush of getting in the ring, as the Black Rose, and pummeling other women. A true Thai success story...