Cambodians were shocked and worried when revered King Norodom Sihanouk announced his decision last week to abdicate after six decades at the stormy center of his country's often brutal history.
But far from abandoning the 13 million subjects he fondly refers to as his children, Sihanouk -- a master of political maneuvering -- seems to be playing one last hand to ensure the survival of the monarchy, experts say.
PHOTO: AP
"I was quite surprised when I read the news," said Bee Ieng, a 33-year-old driver of a motorbike taxi waiting for customers near the Royal Palace.
"I think this time it's real because he had been talking about abdicating for some time already."
Before he could say what might happen next, he zoomed his bike across the street to pick up a foreign tourist emerging from the yellow-walled palace, where the king has not been since January, when he left for an extended stay abroad.
So Nan, a 40-year-old government employee, feared political instability might ensue after the king's abdication since he "has always been the father of the nation and national reconciliation."
"I'm very worried about what his abdication will do to our country," agreed Taing Say, 70, who pedals a bicycle rickshaw for a living.
Cambodians his age remember how peace and prosperity prevailed under the leadership of Sihanouk until 1970, when he was ousted by Phnom Penh's pro-American elite, who declared a republic and left him in exile.
A vicious civil war followed, ending in a 1975 victory for the communist Khmer Rouge insurgents with whom Sihanouk cast his lot against his usurpers, sparking violence that cost the lives of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians -- about one quarter of the population at the time.
When a Vietnamese invasion ousted the Khmer Rouge in 1979, Sihanouk was freed from house arrest at his palace and went back into exile. He started a fresh struggle, leading a guerrilla alliance to war against a Hanoi-installed regime, and then leading peace talks which bore fruit with UN-organized elections in 1993.
Restored as a constitutional monarch after the polls, he has since served as the country's conscience as its politicians dithered and bickered.
The king, who will turn 82 at the end of October, has long had health problems. Doctors who examined him last month found a stomach problem, feared to be a reoccurrence of cancer that first showed up in 1993.
Especially frustrating for Sihanouk, says his official biographer Julio Jeldres, has been the failure of the country's political leaders to address urgent problems including poverty, corruption, injustice, and the failure to make proper preparations for the king's successor.
He insists he will not return to Cambodia until a Throne Council is formed as mandated by law, and his successor chosen.
But several Cambodia experts and foreign friends believe he is attempting to preserve the monarchy, about which Prime Minister Hun Sen has shown ambivalence in the past. Jeldres says one of Sihanouk's main concerns "has been that after him the monarchy may cease to exist."
"My quick reaction is `never say never' with King Sihanouk," says Bernie Krisher, a longtime friend and publisher of the Cambodia Daily newspaper. "By abdicating he hopes to avoid the confusion and impasse that might occur if he died and there was no clear map as to what might follow."
David Chandler, a foremost historian of modern Cambodia, calls Sihanouk's move a ploy against Hun Sen, who, the scholar thinks, "probably would not like anyone on the throne at all."
"No one gains from political uncertainty in Cambodia," says Chandler. "Sihanouk knows this and is playing one more deal of the cards." And he is clever enough, notes Chandler, to back Prince Norodom Sihamoni, one of his sons by Queen Monineath, whom Hun Sen would not find threatening as king. Sihamoni, 51, has long lived abroad.
Vong Kimhou, a 43-year-old peasant from central Kandal province, took his wife and four-year-old child to visit the Royal Palace for the first time Saturday. Both agreed they missed something important during their tour.
Vong Kimhou said he saw Sihanouk's portraits from the 1960s on display inside the palace but "there's no king living there."
"I feel the palace is empty," he said. "Now, it's a kingdom without a king."
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS