A Biography of Prince Norodom Arun Yukanthor- part one

Prince Norodom Arun Yukanthor (1860-1934)
Prince Yukanthor was an heir presumptive to the Cambodian throne and an outspoken critic against the French colonial rule in Cambodia. He was a prominent member of the Khmer royal family who was actively involved in the affairs of the kingdom. Deeply concerned about the French repression throughout the country and powerless to do anything inside the country, he took his concerns to the international scene. In 1900 he set on a journey to France to stir up public opinion, known as the Yukanthor Affairs, about the French oppression in Cambodia. Arriving in France, along with a young sympathetic French journalist named Jean Hess, he took up his concerns to the French government and the French public. Hess organised for Yukanthor’s and the king’s concerns to be published in Le Figaro newspaper. The publication caused a sensational uproar in the French public circle. Embarrassed by Yukanthor’s campaign the French authority ordered King Norodom, Yukanthor’s father, to recall him back to Cambodia. Fearing arrest Yukanthor, instead of returning back to Cambodia, chose to go into exile in Thailand, travelling there via Algeria. He remained in exile in Thailand until his death in 1934.(1)

Family Lineage
His Royal Highness Prince Norodom Arun Yukanthor was born in 1860 (some documents recorded his birth year as 1858). He was the son of King Norodom (1834-1904) and the grandson of King Ang Duong (1796-1860)(2). Prince Yukanthor was married to his half sister, Princess Norodom Malika (1872-1951). He had three daughters and a son. They are: 1. Princess Pengpas Yukanthor [28 JUL 1892 - 29 OCT 1969] ,2. Princess Robangpas Yukanthor [1893 - ], 3. Princess Pingpeang Yukanthor [26 DEC 1894 - 26 DEC 1966] , and 4. Prince Heanh Wachhiravongs [1896 - Aft 1969].
Prince Yukanthor, like his other royal siblings, was privately educated at a royal court. He was appointed as Heir Apparent by his father, King Norodom, but was removed from the royal succession due to his anti-French activities.
Prince Yukanthor had one politically active daughter, Princess Pingpeang Yukanthor, who was very prominent in the campaign to lobby the French parliament to vote for the return of Kampuchea Krom, the lower part of Cambodia occupied by Vietnam for many centuries, to Cambodia’s control. She was the head of the Cambodian delegation to the Assembly of the French Union in Verseilles in 1949. She was then elected to become the president of the Assembly. There were accusations that the reasons that the Assembly voted to keep Kampuchea Krom under Vietnam’s control was due to the fact that she did not campaign hard enough and according to Hun Sen’s speech in 2005, she voted abstention regarding whether Kampuchea Krom should be returned to Cambodia or remain under Vietnam’s control. Son Sann, a former Cambodian prime minister and a resistance leader against the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia in the 1980s, who was a native of Kampuchea Krom himself, had insinuated that the princess and her delegation did not lobby hard for Kampuchea Krom’s return to Cambodia’s control. In a speech in the 1990s, Son Sann was quoted as saying that “thanks to the President (Princess Pingpeang Yukanthor) and to all Cambodian members, the Assembly of the French Union voted in a favourable opinion to this bill of transfer (of Kampuchea Krom to Vietnam)”.(3)
Prince Yukanthor, after launching a successful campaign to embarrass the French authority for its oppression in Cambodia, was banished and exiled to Algeria, Belgium, Singapore in 1900, and then in Bangkok after 1913. He remained in exile in Bangkok until his death in 1934.

The Events Leading to the Yukanthor Affairs (To be continued on part two).
To read part two please click: http://khmerization.blogspot.com/2008/02/biography-of-prince-norodom-arun_04.html