A Biography of Prince Norodom Arun Yukanthor- part four (final part)

The Repercussions from the Yukanthor Affairs
The Yukanthor affair originated from the forced convention of 1884. King Norodom was probably the instigator of Yukanthor’s actions in order to regain some of his powers taken away in the 1884 convention. And the French authorities in Cambodia had accused the king of complexities in the Yukanthor affairs. Klobukowski, Thomson’s chef du cabinet, in a manuscript report of more than two hundred pages, attempted to find an explanation for the resistance to the French, concluded that Norodom was “legally the responsible originator of this agitation”. Klobukowski also singled out many French residents and officials of encouraging King Norodom to persuade Yukanthor to take his complaints to Paris. On the Cambodian side, Klobukowski accused the king’s secretary, Col de Monteiro, Norodom’s brother, Nupparat and Prince Duong Chacr, a very politically astute son of Norodom, as being the masterminds. Klobukowski’s accusations have some merits because the imposed 1884 convention had many opponents from the palace, and Prince Duong Chacr was one of them. Klobukowski, unable to provide a full explanation of his account of the event, would cite the undoubted fact of Duong Chacr’s association with the Yukantor affairs and other uprisings, such as the ones organised by his uncle, Prince Si Votha. The suspicion over Prince Duong Chacr’s involvement stemmed from the fact that he was a stakeholder to the Cambodian throne. While the French counted on Sisowath’s loyal cooperation once he was on the throne, his succession was not readily accepted either by Norodom or by his sons. In 1888 the French Resident General in Phnom Penh reported that he believed that Norodom had still not clarified his own mind on the succession. If he showed any favour to any one son, it appeared to be toward Prince Duong Chacr(5), who had been very active against the French in the uprising of 1885-1886. Two years later, a new French representative in Cambodia, Verneville, regarded Duong Chacr as a “dark cloud on the horizon”. Duong Chacr’s talents and intelligence were the source of Verneville’s concerns. The prince’s mother, Khun Sancheat Bopha, had earlier been a member of King Ang Duong’s female household and was, again according to Verneville, a supporter of Siamese interests in the Cambodian court with considerable influence over Norodom. Apparently in response to Verneville’s urgings, Norodom abandoned his support of Duong Chacr and placed the prince in chains. According to Verneville’s report made in April 1890, he cited that Duong Chacr was placed in chains because he had offended his father, King Norodom. However, in a dossier which contained a letter from Prince Duong Chacr to the Minister of the Colonies, written in Phnom Penh on 7th May 1891, the prince charged that the king acted on one occasion after Verneville had urged that he, Duong Chacr, should be chained.
Alienated from his father, Prince Duong Chacr fled to Bangkok, from where he addressed a letter of complaint to Le Myre de Vilers, the former governor of Cochinchina. Next he travelled to France to further press his case, alleging mistreatment by both his father and by Resident Superior de Verneville. At the same time he argued that a financial subvention, promised to him by the French government, had not been paid. Within a few months of his arrival in Paris, in June 1893, Duong Chacr was an embarrassment to the French government. His father was persuaded to authorise the prince’s exile, and in August 1893, Duong Chacr was arrested after a violent scene in the Left Bank area of Paris. He was interned in Algeria, remaining there until his death in 1897, despite his pleas for exile in a climate similar to that of Cambodia. The vigour with which the French countered Duong Chacr’s possible threat to an orderly succession clearly indicates their anxiety to replace the intriguing old monarch, Norodom, with a willing puppet. Today, Duong Chacr’s name is largely forgotten, but the Yukanthor affairs featured prominently in the Cambodian history and Yukanthor‘s name was anointed with a high school named after him.//End//

Yukantor’s Family Tree (6)
Preah Ang Mechas ARUNA YUKANTHOR
BORN : 1860, Phnom Penh,CambodiaDIED : 1934, Thailand
FATHER : HM King NORODOM [FEB 1834 - 24 APR 1904]
PARTNER : Preah Ang Mechas Norodom Malika [1872 - 1951]
Preah Ang Mechas Pengpas Yukanthor [28 JUL 1892 - 29 OCT 1969]
Preah Ang Mechas Robangpas Yukanthor [1893 - ]
Preah Ang Mechas Pingpeang Yukanthor [26 DEC 1894 - 26 DEC 1966]
Preah Ang Mechas HEANH WACHHIRAVONGS [1896 - Aft 1969]

References
(1) Milton E. Osborne, The French Presence in Cochinchina and Cambodia. All sources are from Osborne’s book, unless otherwise stated.
(2) http://www.4dw.net/royalark/Cambodia/camboa9.htm
(3)http://khmerkrom.org/eng/?q=node/38
(4)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonial_Cambodia
(5) http://www.san.beck.org/14-8-Siam1800-1941.html
(6) http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~royalty/cambodia/i151.html#I151

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1.To read part one click:http://khmerization.blogspot.com/2008/02/biography-of-prince-norodom-arun.html
2. To read A Biography of Prince Norodom Chantaraingsey.
3. To read A Biography of Prince Sisowath Yutevong.
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