King Norodom Sihanouk

The monarch has watched over his people for 58 years. What happens when he's gone?
King Norodom Sihanouk has seen his country occupied three times, has been betrayed and overthrown and has spent nearly two decades in exile. He has had children killed by revolutionaries. His country has been ripped apart by war and suffocated by poverty. In this climate he has thrived, playing leading role in domestic politics for more than 50 years, forming friendships with some of the century's most powerful rulers, brokering deals to calm turbulent times at home and securing the love of the people.
"He has helped solve a lot of political crisis as the referee and has brought peace for us. His mediating role is unique in Cambodian politics," says Theang Saphay, a 43-year-old motorbike tai driver. "We need him to stay with us as cool shade to protect the Cambodian people." But in his twilight year, the King, who recently turned 77, is fading.
Who will replace him is a question few in Cambodia will openly discuss, for fear of showing disrespect to the King. But the subject has been raised more frequently in recent months as the King himself says he is dogged by poor health. "My subjects, you must understand that I am considerably weak," he said in a recent television address, explaining why he has cut back on public appearances. "Now my life enters a period that is similar to the setting of the sun."
King Sihanouk has had two strokes and suffers from diabetes. In 1993 he was diagnosed with colon cancer, which has gone into remission, though he is still frequently in Beijing for medical treatments. In a private conversation with friends recently, the King said he is content with his contributions to the country, and now that Cambodia is stable, he is comfortable dying.
Some say the monarchy today is an outdated concept, no longer serving the needs of the country, and should be abolished in favor of a republic. Others charge that with one party effectively ruling Cambodia, the King is needed to speak for and protect the people to help minimize the abuse of power. And there is still a loyal following, especially in the countryside, that sees the King as the country's one true leader.
"Whoever is chosen as Cambodia's next king, the monarchy will never be the same after Norodom Sihanouk," says opposition party leader Sam Rainsy. "He will be probably the last of Cambodia's great kings." The role the future king will play in Cambodia is unclear. He could serve as a figure head, merely overseeing royal ceremonies and entertaining heads of state. Or he could, in theory, assume more wide-ranging powers granted by th Constitution--broader powers, some say, than King Sihanouk has exercised.
"Our King has not played his role as monarch fully," say Lao Mong Hay, executive director of the Khmer Institute of Democracy. "He has not exercised his constitutional powers. If the government doesn't work well, if the Parliament is just rubber stamping, then the King can step in.... Many people," he says, "wish he could do more."
But in interviews with foreign and Cambodian political analysts, a picture emerges of and isolated and increasingly-powerless monarch who once commanded the center stage in Cambodian politics but is now politely chastised by Prime Minister Hun Sen for meddling in politics, helpless to alter a system dominated by Hun Sen's party, the CPP. And the peacemaking deals for which the King is so widely praised, analysts say, have benefited Hun Sen more than anyone.
A Political Decision
Though the monarchy still attracts blinds devotion for many, Cambodia has a young population and the monarchy is losing the mystique it once had. King Sihanouk's successor, and the future of the monarchy itself, depends not on bloodlines but political convenience, at least while Hun Sen remains prime minister and perhaps longer.
"The next king will have not chance to survive without support from the current prime minister," says a Cambodian analyst with ties to all three main parties. "He will be a real symbol of the monarchy. Nothing else. Otherwise, he will not survive." Constitutionally, the throne is open to any member of the Royal family who is at least 30 years old and a descendant from King Ang Dong, King Norodom or King Sisowath. This could include hundreds of people , but only a few are recognized as likely candidates.
The short list includes National Assembly President Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the King's son and one-time first prime minister; Prince Norodom Sirivudh, the King's half brother who was expelled in 1995 for allegedly plotting to assassinate Hun Sen then granted amnesty by the King last year; and Prince Norodom Sihamoni, the King's son with Queen Norodom Minineath, who lives in Paris as Cambodia's representative to Unesco.
The suggestion also is raised periodically that the Constitution could be changed to make Queen Norodom Monineath the reigning monarch. The National Assembly has the power to do this, needling a two-thirds vote by its members.
The succession process is often criticized as being too highly politicized. Unlike countries such as England which has a hereditary monarchy with the successor known far in advance, the next monarch here will be chosen by the Royal Council of the Throne. The nine-member body is composed of the prime minister, the top three posts in both the National Assembly and the Senate and the leaders of the country's two Buddhist sects. The CPP controls five of the nine seats.
Fortune and Calamity
Whoever assumes the throne, the King's successor will be stepping io a legacy nearly impossible to match.
"He is a political survivor who commands tremendous political respect," says Kao Kim Hourn, executive director of the Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace. "The next king will have to work very hard. He will have to show that he's capable. The King worked very hard to get where he is today--more than 20 years to restore the throne, to restore the country as a new kingdom."
King Sihanouk was little more than a boy when he became Cambodia's ruling monarch. In 1941, at the age of 18, prince Norodom Sihanouk was appointed King by a French colonial government that thought he would be a weak and controllable figurehead.
In 1945, when the Japanese invaded Cambodia, the young King took the opportunity to declare the country's independence from France, though the freedom was short-lived as the Japanese were soon defeated. But by 1954, Cambodia was given its independence, a concession King Sihanouk is credited with securing from France, which was already reeling from its defeated the throne--making his father the king--to immerse himself in politics as prime minister. As war spread through then-indochina, Prince Sihanouk's effort were increasingly directed at balancing the pressures from the US and communist powers supporting Vietnam. While out of the country in 1970, he was overthrown by his trusted general Lon Nol.
Prince Sihanouk threw his support behind the Khmer Rough, a new guerrilla movement fighting Lon Nol's US-backed regime. The Khmer Rouge, he said in a 1980 interview, could not have come to power without his support. He returned to Phnom Penh in 1975 only to become a prisoner of the Khmer Rouge in the Royal Palace until 1979. The movement he once supported and would late join in a governing alliance had killed five of his children.
In the opinion of a prominent western historian on Cambodia, Prince Sihanouk had already undermined the monarchy by this time and set the course for how it would be viewed in the future.
"Sihanouk himself first crippled, then dismantled the monarchy by his behavior in the 1950s and 1960s, first by abdicating, then by making his father, then by making his father,
then his mother head of state, then by joining the Khmer Rough," the historian says. "The institution no longer exists, aside from him." For the next 13 years after his release from the Khmer Rouge, Prince Sihanouk lived in exile in Beijing and Pyongyang, North Korea, but was involved in efforts to rid Cambodia of Vietnamese occupation. He returned to Cambodia in 1991 following the Paris Peace Agreements. by 1993, with UN-sponsored elections under way, Prince Sihanouk seized an opportunity to return to the throne.
Bowing to Pressure
Though Prince Ranariddh's Funcinpec party won the election, the CPP claimed fraud. Hun Sen persuaded Prince Sihanouk to take control, telling him it was the only way to prevent war in Cambodia. Prince Sihanouk obliged, appointing himself prime minister, president and supreme military commander.
Although his son's party had won the election outright, Prince Sihanouk told both sides to join in a power-sharg government, with Prince Ranariddh and Hun Sen serving as two prime ministers. As part of the new Constitution, Sihanouk was reinstated as king. While the deal gave him back the throne, the King's own assessment of his actions at the time was less than enthusiastic. In "Report from a stricken Land," former New York Times report Henry Kamm says the King coalition with threats of civil war.
Since then, analysts say, the King repeatedly has had to bow to the powers controlling the country-- Hun Sen and the CPP. In describing the King's role in recent and past history in Cambodia, many international scholars have not been kind to King Sihanouk. They have questioned oppression of rivals during the 1960s, his alliances with the communist Vietnamese during the war, his support of the Khmer Rouge, his flights into exile during Cambodia's troubled times and his undermining of the 1993 election results.
Such claims, says Thach Bunroeun, Prince Ranariddh's chief of cabinet, are both disrespectful and unfair. "Cambodians should be thankful again and again and again to his Majesty," he says. "He has been able again and again to bring peace to this country, after all the political turmoil that Cambodian leaders have created."
Of course, Thach Bunroeun is a royalist. But there are other observers who agree with this assessment. "The King was absolutely essential to the fact that there is a government now," says a Western political analyst.
The tension that followed the 1998 elections, which the CPP won, turned into political deadlock. Because Funcinpec would not recognize the results, the government largely ground to a halt and Cambodia's relationship with the international community was put on hold.
"In the end it was the King who made everybody aware that the continued stalemate was not good for the country, not good or Cambodia's relations with others, and he decided to put an end to it," the analyst says. "The King saved the country from itself."
Power Has limits
Through most of the 1990s, the King's actions have been more subtle. his preferred method for speaking out or issues--both social and political--is his monthly newsletter, Bulletin Mensuel de Documentation, a collection of correspondences and press clippings critiqued by the King. He uses it as a forum to defend himself against his critics. But he also bemoans the violence, poverty and lack of education in the country and condemns government corruption and mismanagement.
The BMD, analysts say, is the King's political tool--one of his last remaining tools. In a scribbling in the margin of the BMD recently, the King spoke in favor of an international tribunal for former Khmer Rouge leaders. Whether or not Hun Sen was influenced by media reports of he King's comment, he said a few days later that he now supports the involvement of foreign judges in the trial.
Earlier tis year, more than 30 Cambodiadvocacy groups wrote a letter to the BMD, asking the King to exercise the powers granted him in the Constitution.
"These articles endow the King with significant powers to act against wrongdoing in public office, in the judicial system and in the army, to fight the destruction of our natural resources for short-term profit, to maintain the sovereignty of our borders and to defend the rights of Cambodian people," the group wrote. "While the King's role is not to govern, he should put his considerable experience and influence to good use in protecting Cambodia from the forces of destruction."
A Royal Cabinet official responded with a letter stating that the King does not want to make enemies of the prime minister, the government and the military.According to article seven of the Constitution, "The king shall reign but shall not govern." But the Constitution is vague on the powers given to the king, leaving much room for interpretation. The King, for instance, oversees the Supreme Council of the Magistracy, charged with ensuring a fair court system and disciplining judges. The King is also charged by the Constitution with ensuring the proper functioning of public institutions, though it does not say which institutions, though it does not say which institutions or what powers of enforcement the king should have.
"It's very general, so it's up to him to decide how to use it, "say Chea Vannath, president of the Center for Social Development, one of the groups that signed the letter. "It allows him to exercise his power broadly." For Lao Mong Hay, of the Khmer Institute of Democracy, "the question is one of courage."Deep down, because of his overthrow in 1970, he seems to be scared of powerful figures," he says. "He does not want to antagonize, lest he be thrown out again." Taking a more active role in politics carries too many risks for the King, says the Cambodia analyst with ties to the three main parties, adding that King Sihanouk has neither the support from government leadership to openly oppose Hun Sen nor the desire to jeopardize the monarchy.The King has a lot of theoretical power in the Constitution. In practice, he understands it's not a power he can exercise," he says. "Each time King Sihanouk has said something that directly or indirectly involved politics, he is told by the people in power that he should not do politics. He has tried to step in and people have let him know very fast. He's tried many times.
"His concern is how to make the royal family survive," he says. "Since he has to be very careful with the prime minister, he has to do things in a way that the prime minister cannot accuse him of interfering... He knows how to not go too far. That's his wisdom."
Influencing the Throne
But in the eyes of Hun Sen,
A top-ranking CPP official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, says the party has alread chosen who it wants to succeed the King. He refused to name the candidate, but made clear that the party wants to next king to focus on religion and culture--not politics.
"In the 1960s, the King could rule by himself. But he was out of the country for 20 years. Now society is more complicated. You need a big team to rule," the official says. "Before, the King was like both the prime minister and the president. The King still thinks he's between prime minister and president."

The official also says the CPP resents that the King speaks out on topics seen as political. Asked about the BMD, he shakes his head in disappointment. "It was the King himself who decided after the Untac period that the King will reign, but not rule," he says. "But he is not comfortable to stay out of politics." Whether or not King Sihanouk's actions over the past several years can be called political, they have been effective, says a Western political analyst.
"He's used his position not as a figurehead, not as a rubber stamp, but to influence events in Cambodia, and he has," he says. "No one is going to have it as King Sihanouk has it now. But the question is: Who can develop it to counterbalance a hot-headed prime minister when it's needed?"
For Thach Bunroeun--"a Sihanoukist, a Royalist, a Khmerist," as he describes himself--King Sihanouk and the king to follow will determine the future of the country. "If Cambodia is going to survive, we must have monarchy, in the true sense,. Khmer monarchy represents Khmer culture, the Khmer soul."
He compares present-day Cambodia to the Christian biblical story of Moses leading the Israelites. After they had escaped enslavement by the Egyptians and were waiting in the desert, God sent Moses the Ten Commandments to guide the people. "Cambodia today needs Ten Commandments," Thach Bunroeun sage. Cambodia today needs a revolutionary leader with integrity, with moral principal. The next king of Cambodia should be that person."
For nearly 50 years, queen Norodom Monineath has been at the side of King Sihanouk--from his years as prime minister to his overthrow, his imprisonment by the Khmer Rouge, his exile and his return to the throne. This experience, some say, makes her the ideal candidate to succeed the King upon his death.
"Who else, next to the King, has been at the top?" says Lao Mong Hay, of the Khmer Institute of Democracy. "She has had a mentor in the form of her husband, 24 hours a day." Both the King and the Queen have said in the past that they do not want the Queen to succeed him. but in a private meeting with friends last month the King said for the first time that the Queen succeeding him may be the best option.
This is due, in part, the King told friends, to his disillusionment with the candidacy of Prince Ranariddh, his long-time choice for the throne. though the King still wants Prince Ranariddh to succeed him, he acknowledges that his candidacy may be hurt because he is still involved in politics as head of the National Assembly and president of the Funcinpec Party. The King has also expressed concern about what will happen to his wife if he dies. He has told friends that he wants the Queen to retain a prominent role in Cambodia, as well as a home in the Royal Palace.
According to the Constitution, the Queen cannot succeed her husband as Cambodia's monarch. But, political analysts say, if Prime Minister Hun Sen and his CPP party want the Queen to be the reigning monarch, they can make it happen. The National Assembly needs a two-thirds vote to change the Constitution.
"We Cambodians need to have a smooth transition," says Lao Mong Hay. "We cannot afford to have abrupt change. We need smooth succession to continue the monarchy. And if we do not want the monarchy anymore, then a smooth transition to a republic."
Though the Queen will never be perceived by the people as the same as the King, her presence on the throne could be beneficial in the short term, says a Cambodian political analyst with ties to the three main parties.
"You cannot compare the Queen and the King," he says. "The Queen can assume the transition, but for a short period of time. The Queen is very clever; she can save the royal family. But the role can never be a lasting role."
If the Queen succeeded the King, she would be Cambodia's first female monarch. This could have a powerful effect on people's views of women's roles in Cambodian society, says Chea Vannath, president of the center for Social Development. But even if the Queen does not assume the throne, she says, the Constitution should be changed to make women of the royal family eligible for the throne.
CAMBODIA UNDER SIHANOUK, 1954-1970
King Sihanouk continues to be one of the most controversial figures in Southeast Asia's turbulent, and often tragic, postwar history. Admirers view him as one of the country's great patriots, whose insistence on strict neutrality kept Cambodia out of the maelstrom of war and out of the revolution in neighboring Vietnam for more than fifteen years before he was betrayed by his close associate, Lon Nol. Critics attack him for his vanity, eccentricities, and intolerance of any political views different from his own. One such critic, Michael Vickery, asserts that beneath the neutralist rhetoric Sihanouk presided over a regime that was oppressively reactionary and, in some instances, as violent in its suppression of political opposition as the Khmer Rouge.
According to Vickery, the royal armed forces under Lon Nol slaughtered women and children in pro-Khmer Issarak regions of Batdambang in 1954 using methods that were later to become routine under Pol Pot. Another critical observer, Milton E. Osborne, writing as an Australian expatriate in Phnom Penh during the late 1960s, describes the Sihanouk years in terms of unbridled greed and corruption, of a foreign policy inspired more by opportunism than by the desire to preserve national independence, of an economy and a political system that were rapidly coming apart, and of the prince's obsession with making outrageously mediocre films--one of which starred himself and his wife, Princess Monique.
Sihanouk was all of these things--patriot, neutralist, embodiment of the nation's destiny, eccentric, rigid defender of the status quo, and promoter of the worst sort of patron-client politics. He believed that he single-handedly had won Cambodia's independence from the French. The contributions of other nationalists, such as Son Ngoc Thanh and the Viet Minh, were conveniently forgotten. Sihanouk also believed he had the right to run the state in a manner not very different from that of the ancient Khmer kings--that is, as an extension of his household. Unlike the ancient "god-kings," however, he established genuine rapport with ordinary Cambodians. He made frequent, often impromptu, trips throughout the country, visiting isolated villages, chatting with peasants, receiving petitions, passing out gifts, and scolding officials for mismanagement.
According to British author and journalist William Shawcross, Sihanouk was able to create a "unique brand of personal populism." To ordinary Cambodians, his eccentricities, volatility, short temper, sexual escapades, and artistic flights of fancy were an expression of royal charisma rather than an occasion for scandal. Sihanouk's delight in making life difficult for foreign diplomats and journalists, moreover, amused his subjects. Ultimately, the eccentric humanity of Sihanouk was to contrast poignantly with the random brutality of his Khmer Rouge successors.