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COMMENTARY
Cambodia's monarchy, 10
years on
By Julio A Jeldres
This past week saw the 10th anniversary of the
restoration of the Cambodian monarchy. However, the
current political crisis in that country caused the
anniversary to pass without any commemoration. The
royalist FUNCINPEC (Front Uni National pour un Cambodge
Independent, Neutre, Pacifique, et Cooperatif, or
National United Front for an Independent, Neutral,
Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia) and the opposition
Sam Rainsy Party on Saturday refused to participate in
the opening of the new parliament without the ruling
Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Hun Sen
addressing their complaints over the conduct of the July
general elections.
On September 24, 1993,
Cambodia promulgated a new constitution and the monarchy
was restored, after an absence of 21 years, following
general elections organized and supervised by the United
Nations. King Norodom Sihanouk returned to the throne he
had abdicated in 1955 in order to enter politics. Since
becoming king again in 1993, Norodom Sihanouk has become
the closest thing Cambodia has to a national ombudsman
and the protector of the country's constitution, which
enshrines the Cambodian people's newly acquired
democratic freedoms in an increasingly authoritarian
environment.
As king, Sihanouk has respected the
constitution and the advice given to him by the
government. This has not prevented him, however, from
speaking sternly in favor of national reconciliation and
the protection of human rights, often taking the
government to task when he feels that the rights of
ordinary Cambodians are threatened.
The king
enjoys wide respect and popularity, particularly with
rural Cambodians. It is not unusual to see groups of
farmers and rural workers, many of whom have traveled
for days, outside the royal palace in Phnom Penh, asking
to see the "King-Father". He receives them and provides
them with food and accommodation while they are in the
capital, as well as with money, clothes and food to take
back to their families in the countryside, along with
renewed assurances that he and the queen are there to
help and serve them.
Since early this year, the
king has undertaken a prolific writing campaign aiming
at several issues of importance to both the government
and the people of Cambodia. The king's writings -
dealing with, among other subjects, deforestation,
poverty, corruption, the partiality of the judicial
system, landless farmers, the pillage of Cambodian
antiquities, land-grabbing and Cambodia's borders - have
brought back the monarch's authoritative voice over
political developments.
At times, King Sihanouk
has managed to irk the prime minister and other
politicians through his interventions in what they
consider to be their domain. For instance, after the
anti-Thai riots in January, the king asked for the
release of the students who were arrested and brought to
trial accused of having burned the Thai Embassy and
caused damage to Thai businesses in the Cambodian
capital. Prime Minister Hun Sen told Sihanouk to stay
out of the issue, but the king was convinced that the
students and other people arrested were scapegoats and
that the real culprits were at liberty. He promised that
he would amnesty them at the opportune time, and he did
so two weeks ago.
However, this idealistic
picture of a monarchy with a king who really cares for
his people has recently been clouded by the belief of
many in Cambodia that the monarchy will not survive
after King Sihanouk, who was born in 1922, passes away.
Critics among the Cambodian elite and even
sources close to the royal family feel that King
Sihanouk has not done enough to rebuild the institution
of the monarchy ensuring that it outlasts him. They
believe that the king's acceptance of a top official
from the CPP as minister of the royal palace has
violated the ancient rule that the king is above
politics and that the Ministry of the Royal Palace
should be led by a non-political person of recognized
intellectual qualities.
Indeed, Cambodia is the
only monarchy in the world where the most senior
official of the royal palace is not only an elected
member of the National Assembly but also a member of
both the Politburo and the Central Committee of the
ruling Cambodian People's Party. In the past, the
minister of the royal palace did not belong to any
political party and was strongly qualified to provide
the necessary support and advice the monarch requires.
The critics feel that the king is isolated in
his palace and has lost the direct contact he used to
have with his people when, in the 1950s and '60s, he
spent most of his time visiting every corner of the
kingdom, opening clinics, dispensaries, hospitals,
schools and colleges.
Last weekend's
controversial opening of the National Assembly, with the
king almost being tricked by the minister of the royal
palace into presiding over the opening of the new
parliament even after the monarch had stated clearly
several times that he would only officiate at the
ceremony if all parties attended it, has renewed the
criticism of the role played by the CPP-appointed
official.
In fairness to the king, as
constitutional monarch he cannot get involved in the
appointment of ministers and the selection of the person
to be appointed minister of the royal palace is normally
made by the government of the day. In the last coalition
government between the FUNCINPEC and the CPP, the
royalists did not raise the issue of the Ministry of the
Royal Palace during the discussions leading to the
formation of the coalition and seemed content with
leaving things as they were.
It is well known
that Sihanouk was reluctant to become king again in
1993, but was ready to present himself as candidate in a
presidential election. However, the intervention of
several countries, which were worried that Sihanouk as a
powerful president would act to defend the interests of
his own country first, thereby creating tension with
Cambodia's neighbors and instability in the region, led
Cambodian politicians to formalize the restoration of
the monarchy with a constitutional monarch who reigns
but does not rule.
In the past year, the king
has on at least five occasions indicated his readiness
to abdicate if a simple majority of the members of the
National Assembly authorized him to do so.
Cambodia has a non-hereditary monarchy. The
Council of the Crown, which has not yet been properly
established, as the National Assembly has never passed
the legislation that makes it operative, elects the king
(Sihanouk was first elected in 1941). Were the king to
abdicate, the president of the Senate, who happens also
to be the president of the ruling CPP, would became
regent until a new monarch is elected.
Hun Sen
has made it clear that it is up to him to nominate the
new king and, as he controls the membership of the
Council of the Crown, it is a fact that the next king,
if one is elected, will be someone with friendly ties to
the ruling CPP who will not cause much trouble.
Many observers share the feeling that after King
Norodom Sihanouk, it will be very difficult for the
Cambodian monarchy to survive, as no member of the royal
family has the strong qualities that have linked
Sihanouk so closely to the peasants and the less
privileged of Cambodia.
Julio A
Jeldres is a former senior private secretary to King
Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia and the king's official
biographer.
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