Of Royal Pleasure and Displeasure

Note by School of Vice

He did love the stage, at least!

B52 bombardment: powerful, destructive, but did little to stem the tide of communism in Indochina.

It's easier for a camel or a buffalo to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a king to go to heaven.

I think even if Sihanouk personally agrees to testify before the KRT, there will be a lot of pressure from other quarters on him not to do so.

The first consideration he has to take seriously is the economic dependence of many of his children and grandchildren upon CPP patronage, some of whom are posted overseas as diplomats, some attached to the King-son as palace advisors, some are seat-warmers and nominal figures inside the RGC itself, but all are bound in one manner or another inextricably to that patronage system.

As a human being Sihanouk probably has a conscience, and probably has a personal sense of remorse as he reflects upon his deeds and misdeeds that had throughout his long political career contributed in no small measure to the upheavals endured by the Khmer nation. However, he has effectively resolved to give to Caesar what is Caesar for some time now and, in the process, has redefined the notion that "the King shall reign but does not rule" in so far as he even relents to the weight of domestic family interest, placing that before and above any consideration relating to personal conscience of an otherwise notoriously defensive, excitable individual who habitually reacts to every publicly perceived ‘slander’ upon his person and reputation. For someone whose charisma rests on his charm and ability to intimate his ‘personal’ sentiment over to his subjects in the same way a father communicates himself with his children without the requirement of interlocutors, the regular appearances of the worldly-wise and taciturn Prince Thomico on his behalf through press releases every time his royal name is in the spotlight tell us all we need to know as to why he [Sihanouk] “just want to die”! 

Personally, I understand his predicament, though this is far from trying to exonerate the enormity of his sins which he had committed either knowingly or through vanity and overweening ego against the Khmer people. For this crime alone no gesture of contrition from him – even with his advance age in mind, and his knack for the theatrical which once led Fidel Castro to unflatteringly describe him as a “stage prince” -  may suffice to relieve himself of his guilt before either the Khmer people or Heaven.