The following is an editorial published by Rasmey Kampuchea newspaper (CPP leaning newspaper) suggesting that royal family members should be banned from the political scene of Cambodia.
Saturday, 18 March, 2006
Editorial by Brevin
Rasmey Kampuchea Newspaper
Translated from Khmer by KI-Media
The lightning evolution of politics in the recent past had pushed Funcinpec on the brink of instability. However, another recent severe effect is the clash with the reputation of the royal family when a number of serious charges have been leveled such as mistress problem, incompetence, clannishness, and corruption.
The storm of criticisms by prime minister Hun Sen had forced Samdech Krom Preah (Norodom Ranariddh) to resign from his position at the National Assembly and leave the country for the time being. Meanwhile, the internal party opposition to the nomination of Prince Norodom Chakrapong has forced him to resign from his new position of secretary-general of Funcinpec. Another issue was the fact that the state had issued a bill of $1.3 million to be paid by Prince Chakrapong also.
The two princes were pushed into an untenable position as a result of their earlier acts. Prince Ranariddh’s problem started when intense criticisms were leveled against him as his love affair with Mrs. Phalla, who bore him a son, became more known by the public. In the Cambodian society with strict customs, this love affair is not welcomed when he is still married to his current wife, Princess Norodom Marie Ranariddh. Therefore, all kind of criticisms were hurled at the prince. Later on, the prince case was further revealed by the prime minister who charged him with numerous irregular spending both on National Assembly funds and on the Olympic Committee funds. In general, the prince reputation was tarnished. At the same time, people were deceived by the errors committed by the prince.
The younger brother of the prince, Prince Norodom Chakrapong, also brought shame [to the royal family reputation] because the state issued a bill asking him to pay over $1.3 million owed by his airline company. Within the rank of Funcinpec, there is no respect for the prince also. A clear opposition had forced the prince to resign from his position of secretary-general which was newly signed by Prince Ranariddh assigning Prince Chakrapong to that position.
While all these tarnishing issues have been revealed, one political analyst claimed that they not only affect the reputation of the two princes involved, but they also involved the reputation of the entire royal family. One analyst added that in the Cambodian society, errors committed by one family member tend to affect the entire family, and the royal family is not an exception. The errors committed by Prince Ranariddh and Prince Chakrapong are hurting the reputation of the royal family. The analyst also added that as lovers of monarchy, we should think about this problem. What happened was because members of the royal family are involved in politics.
The political analyst said that we should think about the effect of politics on the entire royal family, in particular on the King, because no royal family members involved in politics will be immune from all kind of attacks. However, the royal family should be considered with some insurance on its respect and support as long as Cambodia is a constitutive monarchy. If there is a law preventing members of the royal family from getting involved in politics, there should also be a law providing some responsibility of the state towards the royal family.
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