Cambodian Prince Norodom Shianouk, right, waves before entering a Supreme National Council Meeting in Beijing with Yasushi Akashi, left, the head of the U.N. peacekeeping operating in Cambodia. The meeting was held at Sihanouk's Beijing home.AP/Wide World Photos.
Originally published in the Guardian on 15 November 1991
- The Guardian,
So the saviour of Cambodia has returned to revive his people.
Or, put a slightly different way, the old rascal has finally made it home again. In the very specific mix of shifting global and regional politics which have made the new Cambodian settlement possible, Prince Norodom Sihanouk may have a very important role to play: but his previous stage parts have been deeply equivocal. As President of the Supreme National Council, he will exercise his all too familiar skills in balancing off pressures from one side against the other whilst ensuring that his own person remains at the fulcrum. The pomp and ceremony also serves a purpose for older Cambodians who hunger dimly for the past, and younger Cambodians who think it is all good fun.
But for the sake of those who have died unnecessarily since Vietnam drove out the Khmer Rouge, let us pause and remember one simple historical fact. Sihanouk acknowledged that his people were better off under Vietnamese tutelage than under Khmer Rouge tyranny. But he found it expedient to fall in with Chinese plans (plus some US prodding) and join the bogus "Coalition Government" set up to revive the fortunes of Pol Pot. True, long-held rivalry with Vietnam also influenced the choice. "We have to choose between being eaten by Khmer or being eaten by Vietnamese. We prefer the Khmer because we are nationalists." But the Vietnamese would have withdrawn if Sihanouk had instead returned to Phnom Penh and revived the neutrality destroyed by the US during the Vietnam war.
The greater responsibility attaches to the perverse Washington-Beijing entente which sponsored the coalition, with supine support from Britain. The coalition conveyed international legitimacy for eight years of murderous war which hit the civilian population hardest, while thousands of refugees were denied the chance to go home and the Phnom Penh government was starved of foreign aid. Only when the international net began to unravel with Sino-Soviet rapprochement, while the US relaxed its Hanoi vendetta, was Cambodia allowed an escape route. With the Khmer Rouge now permitted a legitimate political future, it is still a very shaky way forward, but better than war.
Sihanouk commuted between desirable residences in Beijing, Pyongyang and France, issuing his interminable hand-written reproaches and textual commentaries with an obsessive concern for anything said about him. The cute old operator still fancies his royal role. But the royal touch will not cure the severed limbs and shattered lives which, in his own delightful and mercurial way, Prince Sihanouk helped bequeath to Cambodia.
But for the sake of those who have died unnecessarily since Vietnam drove out the Khmer Rouge, let us pause and remember one simple historical fact. Sihanouk acknowledged that his people were better off under Vietnamese tutelage than under Khmer Rouge tyranny. But he found it expedient to fall in with Chinese plans (plus some US prodding) and join the bogus "Coalition Government" set up to revive the fortunes of Pol Pot. True, long-held rivalry with Vietnam also influenced the choice. "We have to choose between being eaten by Khmer or being eaten by Vietnamese. We prefer the Khmer because we are nationalists." But the Vietnamese would have withdrawn if Sihanouk had instead returned to Phnom Penh and revived the neutrality destroyed by the US during the Vietnam war.
The greater responsibility attaches to the perverse Washington-Beijing entente which sponsored the coalition, with supine support from Britain. The coalition conveyed international legitimacy for eight years of murderous war which hit the civilian population hardest, while thousands of refugees were denied the chance to go home and the Phnom Penh government was starved of foreign aid. Only when the international net began to unravel with Sino-Soviet rapprochement, while the US relaxed its Hanoi vendetta, was Cambodia allowed an escape route. With the Khmer Rouge now permitted a legitimate political future, it is still a very shaky way forward, but better than war.
Sihanouk commuted between desirable residences in Beijing, Pyongyang and France, issuing his interminable hand-written reproaches and textual commentaries with an obsessive concern for anything said about him. The cute old operator still fancies his royal role. But the royal touch will not cure the severed limbs and shattered lives which, in his own delightful and mercurial way, Prince Sihanouk helped bequeath to Cambodia.
3 comments:
Our former King [The REAL God Father of our people of Cambodia] had made a few bad decisions that caused some devastations to our country and people. I was not old enough to know very much about him, other than a lot of readings and information from foreign languages about Sihanouk and his political careers and during his throne.
Personally, I still believe and I'm sure many millions of Cambodian people living all over the world and many people inside our country would share the same thoughts and hopes that he is the ONLY one person that will redeem himself for our Cambodian People and Our Country for the better.
The longer our God Father is living the Better off for our Country and People, and again many of our people would have the same thoughts.
Our God Father went through so much in his life in struggling against foreign occupations, foreign invasions, and struggling for the Independence of our Country.
NOBODY knows about our neighboring countries' tactics and motivations toward our country and our people THAN OUR GOD FATHER.
At the end, many of our CAMBODIAN PEOPLE ARE WILLING TO FORGIVE HIM THE SOME BAD DECISIONS THAT HE MADE IN THE PAST.
The colonial French was too smart to place a competence leader to be incharged of Cambodia. Sihanouk was chosen by the French since he was 17 years old. He was not chosen by the people or by members of the royal council. The French didn 't have much liking for Cambodia, so it feels little or no need for Cambodia to have a well qualify leader. To have a well qualify leader, Cambodia might become a threat to the colonial power. So from the early days prior to the French giving Cambodia independence, Cambodia was already set up to fail as a nation.
By looking back of our history within the past century, I still believe that Sihanouk was the most competent leader of our nation.
Being a leader of a country, nation, or state you don't have to have a brain of a rocket scientist. Of course, a leader or a politician must have some good quality of education, competency, smart leaders would involved themselves and being cordial with other leaders around the world, surrounded yourself with real intelligent people, and most importantly to protect and defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of own nation and to lead your country to a prosperity and a happy nation for your people.
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