After my article "Cambodia: The Monarchy Or A Republic?" was posted in my blog, I received a few replies through my email. Among those who replied positively were Mr. Bora Touch, Mr. Salen Sy and many more....The following reply is particularly interesting because it is from Mr. Dith Nimol, a Khmer student of King Mongkut University in Thailand, who had experienced royal politics firsthand and because he has been away from Cambodia for some times. Here is his long reply to me.
Dear Khmerization Junior,
I have no idea. It's up to the royal family to decide what they wanted to do in the future.
In my opinion, the Cambodian royal family has good reputation and bad reputation.
Some kings are good, some kings are not good to the nation.
I encourage the Cambodian royal family to look at the royal families of neighboring countries for example because they have engaged in the constructions and the developments of their countries.
I was born after the Khmer Rouge regime was toppled. I don't know much about Cambodian politics.
Below is what I've known, I've seen with my eyes:
My first experience with politics was in 1998. During that time I was just a high school student. That year I became 18 years old, i can go to vote for the first time in my life to cast vote for my future leader. That year, i have joined the demonstrations to support Prince Norodom Ranariddh when he returned from exile. There were some demonstrations against him too. We were students in the city. We want to return democracy back to our country. We trusted him, we went to street protests to support him.
After the July 1998 election, there were demonstrations against the electoral irregularities organised by Mr. Sam Rainsy and Prince Norodom Ranariddh in front of National Assembly. That demonstration became an anti-government demonstration. I joined the street protests everyday with my classmates from Preah Sisowath High School.
I remembered what Prince Norodom Ranariddh said to the crowds: "Hun Sen is corrupt and is a puppet of Vietnam .......etc ". After months of street protests, he joined Hun Sen to create a coalition government. He betrayed Sam Rainsy. He started to attack Mr. Sam Rainsy in the parliament. This time, I heard he spoke to reporters: "Hun Sen is good leader, .......................etc "
It was sad for me. My friend, he was injured during the street protests. My body was beaten by police. They toyed with our life because of their powers. But when they have powers, they don't care. Not a word of thanks from Prince Norodom Ranariddh to the demonstrators.
I told myself that I will not join any demonstrations any more.
About the border issues with Vietnam.
The Cambodian royal family, including King-Father Norodom Sihanouk and Prince Norodom Ranariddh, have created a resistance movement on the borders to fight against the Vietnamese invasion in 1979, by basing their troops along the Cambodian-Thai borders during the resistance years of 1979 to 1991. They were fighting against border agreements of 1982 or 1985 with Vietnam. A lots of people died because they wanted freedom.
The Cambodian royal family, including King-Father Norodom Sihanouk and Prince Norodom Ranariddh, have created a resistance movement on the borders to fight against the Vietnamese invasion in 1979, by basing their troops along the Cambodian-Thai borders during the resistance years of 1979 to 1991. They were fighting against border agreements of 1982 or 1985 with Vietnam. A lots of people died because they wanted freedom.
But recently, King-Father Norodom Sihanouk and Prince Norodom Ranariddh supported the agreement of 1982 or 1985, signed with the Vietnamese government. Members of parliament from Funcinpec party voted to support that agreement. During that time, Prince Norodom Ranariddh initiated a lawsuit against some opposition MPs, including Sam Rainsy, for their expressions of opposition to that border agreement.
They are thinking that the Cambodian people are their servants. They don't think we are human beings. We have hearts too.
My experience told me that" the Cambodian royal family, when they said somethings, the words are always up and down (flip-flopping) ". There is no real word.
The only choice for the Cambodian monarchy to stay alive is for the Cambodian monarchy itself to stay away from politics. They should learn from Thailand's royal family, Bhutan's royal family. These royal families are doing some social works.
The Cambodian royal family should go away from political affairs.
These are my comments about your topic.
Dith Nimol
Student of King Mongkut University of Technology, North Bangkok
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