A Change of Guard

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Sunday 18 December 2011

Will Sihanouk Appear at Khmer Rouge Trials?


By Marwaan Macan-Markar
Sep 10, 2007 (IPS)

Sihanouk locked in embrace with Vietnam's war hero Vo Nguyen Giap.
School of Vice: The historic step taken by Sihanouk to throw in his lot with Cambodian communists led by Pol Pot following the US backed Lon Nol-Sirik Matak coup against him in March 1970 was hardly unexpected in light of prior well-documented clandestine or de facto political and material support generously extended to the North Vietnamese communists by him. Despite his public condemnation of the leaders of the 18th March coup, Sihanouk must have known and anticipated their revolt against him was a strong possibility given his political treachery and the secrecy of his dealings with the North Vietnamese, including approving their use of much of the eastern parts of the country as sanctuaries and vital military supply routes i.e. Ho Chi Minh Trail which then instigated the US's B52 carpet bombing of a country that had hitherto no real quarrel with the Americans. In Henry Kissinger's words, to fight the North Vietnamese communists and defend freedom, it was necessary to subordinate the parts to the whole. More crucially for Sihanouk, the conclusion of the Indochina war in 1975 had not worked out in the manner he would have desired or sought, with the Pol Pot leadership decisively breaking away from the clutches of Hanoi, unbeknown to Sihanouk and even before its final decisive victory on 17th April 1975 - a historic event date deliberately carved up to mark Democratic Kampuchea's independence from Sihanouk's North Vietnamese ‘allies’ who entered Saigon a couple of weeks later. Sihanouk had convinced himself of the inevitability of Communist Vietnamese victory over the Indochina War hence the propensity to risk his stake with the Red camp. However, he had [and has] far too willingly allowed himself - and along with it, his small country - to be used and exploited in pursuit of an end game that neither him nor his compatriots had any realistic chance of determining beside the obligatory sacrifices demanded of his nation in unimaginable human horror and misery as well as in national and territorial integrity. And that, in short, is Norodom Sihanouk's true legacy.

Cambodia’s colourful former king Norodom Sihanouk has emerged as the central figure in the latest controversy to plague the special tribunal established to prosecute the surviving members of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime.

And the 85-year-old royal, who has carved a name for himself as a man who relishes the spotlight, has waded into the dispute in his own inimitable way. He chose to reveal his thoughts on the question that has gripped Phnom Penh: whether Sihanouk should or should not be called to appear before the United Nations-backed war crimes trial.

On Aug. 30 he took his first thrust by issuing an unusual invitation to the U.N. officials associated with the tribunal, including the international spokesman for the tribunal, Peter Foster, to visit the palace for a conversation on ‘’the affairs of the Khmer Rouge and Sihanouk.’’ The means of communicating the invitation was typical Sihanouk: it was posted on the personal web site that he maintains. The rendezvous in the royal court was set for Sep. 8 and expected to last for three hours, from 9 a.m. till 12 noon.

Sihanouk - who stepped down as the monarch in October 2004 in favour of his son, Norodom Sihamoni - took the liberty on that web posting to reveal how he views the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC), as the tribunal is officially called. ‘’After this (meeting) it will no longer be necessary for me to present myself before the U.N.’s ECCC,’’ Sihanouk stated in his invitation. And if the U.N. officials failed to show up, he noted that he ‘’will not accept to see, speak or correspond with the U.N.’s ECCC.’’


As was expected, the U.N. officials did not participate in this royal conversation on the tribunal. ‘’I was not authorised to participate in this meeting, nor were other U.N. officials,’’ Foster said during an interview from Phnom Penh. ‘’We responded by saying that only the judges involved in the trial will be able to determine who will be a witness. The judges will do so based on procedural rules.’’

But like a character from a Shakespearian drama, Sihanouk continued to protest too much. In standing up for his cause, the former monarch ‘’complained that the ECCC wanted him to ‘take an oath to tell the truth, nothing but the truth on the subject of arch criminals’,’’ reported the ‘Phnom Penh Post’ English-language newspaper last Friday. ‘’I do not have to swear an oath after (the one I swore) with Buddha, to debase myself to take an oath in front of the ECCC.’’

Those familiar with Sihanouk’s penchant for grand gestures and a life peppered with drama are hardly surprised by this latest offering. Following his being crowned the monarch of his South-east Asian nation in 1941, at the tender age of 18 years, he has abdicated twice, served as king twice, held the post of prime minister twice and served as president once. His record in the world of the arts and entertainment has been as varied, dabbling as a film-maker, song writer, painter, saxophonist and a crooner of ballads.

What is equally well-known is the link Sihanouk maintained with the Khmer Rouge, responsible for an orgy of death during 1975 to 1979 when it took control of Cambodia after a prolonged battle with a pro-American puppet regime in Phnom Penh. The extreme Maoist group killed close to 1.7 million Cambodians, nearly a quarter of the country’s population at the time. The victims were executed, died from forced labour or starvation as the Khmer Rouge tried to turn the country into an agrarian utopia.

Sihanouk himself lost family members to the Khmer Rouge and was kept under house arrest by the genocidal regime between 1976 till 1979. Yet against those details are the roles he played in the four years up to the Khmer Rouge triumph in 1975 - urging the Cambodian people to join the Khmer Rouge, in addition to serving as the head of state for the Khmer Rouge in the first year it held power. And when the Khmer Rouge was driven out of power by the invading Vietnamese troops, Sihanouk fled to the forests with the extreme Maoists and took on a new role as the global defender of the Khmer Rouge regime in exile.

It is this phase of Sihanouk’s life that has been brought into focus and raised the possibility of him going before the ECCC. The latter officially began work in July this year after long delays and hurdles placed in its way, including regular challenges posed by the Cambodian government of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

The push to get Sihanouk appear before the ECCC was triggered by a relatively unknown non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in the United States, the Cambodian Action Committee for Justice and Equity (CACJE). In late August, it made a request to authorities in Phnom Penh to strip Sihanouk of his immunity as a former monarch in order to be called before the tribunal.

The Hun Sen administration rose to Sihanouk’s defence by delivering a harsh rebuke. The premier called the request to strip Sihanouk ‘’very barbaric’’ and one that ‘’could have the result of jeopardising the peace and unity’’ of the country.

But human rights groups questioned the motives of the government, arguing that war-ravaged Cambodia’s quest to create a society governed by the rules of law and justice will be undermined if the former monarch is placed above the law and insulated from the ECCC. ‘’This could set a bad precedence, since the ECCC is expected to set new and high standards of justice for Cambodia,’’ says Lao Mong Hay, senior researcher on Cambodia at the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a regional rights lobby.

‘’The request does not mean he has to face trial as a defendant or as an accused, but it is to remove an unconstitutional clause in the constitution and make the former king available if the judges need him to appear,’’ Lao explained during an interview from Hong Kong, where AHRC is based. ‘’This is very important for the trial, since many Cambodians who lost family want to know about the past; how and why the Khmer Rouge pursued their murderous policies.’’

‘’It is a chance for the former king to clear his name if he did nothing wrong,’’ adds Lao. ‘’And he has been on the record in the past saying that he would be willing to face the trial like the former Khmer Rouge leaders.’’

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sam dech father! be brave and clear your name, hopefully your majesty do something to reveal history of event to show new generation what why where who has done criminal act, your son and dauther, grand son and grand dauther, and great grand son and dauther would like to know the true, if you did please also tell us. Thanks

Anonymous said...

To preserve freedom,liberty and perhaps justice!? the US was willing to associate themselves with the despicable persons like Dap Chhuon, Sam Sary, Song Ngoc Thanh and worst of all Sirik Matak. What's a good strategy! But the US has always had good cause and noble intention in spite of their execution was somehow so pitiful.
How absurd is it if, a police chief orders his daughter to go to sleep with the gang master in order to destroy the whole gang? The end justify the means or vice versa?
The US should have granted freedom and liberty to Sihanouk to exercise his freewill of being neutral and pursuit his non align policy. In Sihanouk case, he was forced to help US police force to destroy the gangs. Sihanouk refused to do so because 2 police officers(Sarit Thanarat and Ngo Din Nhiem) harassed him and his household! Worst,the lacking of US sincerity, had forced Sihanouk to go to bed with the gang master!!!

Anonymous said...

Ho Chi Minh Trail was a superb designed strategy of Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap to turn Cambodia, Laos into a new battle fields, in Indochina War, in order to saved North Viet-communist troops,which had been suffered heavily by the B52 carpet-bombing in North Vietnam.
Thousand of Vietminh troops had been deployed inside Cambodia in Pavet district, Svayreang province, in early 1969 intentionality and without Sihanouk permission as a part of the art of war of Gen.Vo Nguyen Giap to pull American to involve in Cambodia that led to the 18 March 1970 Coup d'état.

Sihanouk was not aware about the cards that Hanoi had laid for the future of Cambodia. He was simply out smarted by Hanoi and he is still a poor card player. The original reason that Sihanouk was unseated not because by American CIA supported Lon Nol and Sirim Matak,but because of Hanoi's political ploy itself.

We all should remember that Hanoi is the father of Khmer Rouge and also the father of the CPP. These two both regimes are Hanoi's superficial architectural mechanisms to use as spring boards for advancing their expansions into Cambodia.
Beneath the peaceful and tranquil political landscape ,Cambodia is still remaining in Hanoi's hands.

The Ho Chi Minh trail now have been turned into Hanoi's highway of advancing its expansionism downward Cambodia and beyond.



True Khmer

Anonymous said...

I can't stand this sob Giap!

Anonymous said...

Look Giap and the two vietcong surrounding Sihanouk. You can see in their face and they almost wanted to hold him down and stab him.