The elegantly-clad Khmer Sar soldiers, wearing French soldier-like hats, who are allegedly being anti-Lon Nol and anti-Pol Pot, are seen being prepared for the filming (Photo: Chauk Chey, Koh Santepheap newspaper)
An evacuation scene during the shooting a documentary film, allegedly penned down by King-Father himself (Photo: Chauk Chey, Koh Santepheap newspaper)Click here to view Cartoonist Sacrava's opinion about this film
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy
Phnom Penh – On 02 January 2008, about 100 people gathered at the Monument of Independence in Phnom Penh city for the filming of a documentary about the evacuation of city dwellers on 17 April 1975. The filming took place all morning long, and it created quite a stir among the travelers when they found out that streets leading to the Monument of Independence were all closed by cops who were providing strict security.
In the early morning of 02 January 2008, about 100 city dwellers were brought in by cars to the Monument of Independence for a preparation to the filming of a documentary, and all the preparations were said to be organized by the royal palace directly. People with bicycles, cyclos, pushing carts, some carrying luggage pieces, hand carriers loaded with cooking pots, including both young and old, and including soldiers as well, were actively participating in the filming which was all planned in advance. Nevertheless, because of the many takes the filming was conducted, it seems that there was no initial preparation at all.
A man from Russei Keo district, Phnom Penh city, claimed that he and more than 100 other people were brought by car to the Monument of Independence to participate in the filming of the documentary, organized by the royal palace about the evacuation of Phnom Penh city dwellers during the period when Pol Pot troops entered the city on 17 April 1975. A man, who declined to provide his name, claimed: “The producer of the film gave me an old bicycle and a big piece of luggage to participate in the filming of this scene.”
The filming included a scene with a group of young and old people, all carrying various objects, who were forced to walk out of the Wat Langka pagoda towards the Monument of Independence. The walking scene was repeated several times. When they reached the Monument of Independence, the marchers were met by a group of soldiers riding 3 Jeep cars who were preventing them from climbing up the Monument of Independence.
The black-clad soldiers, armed with AK-47 rifles, indicated that they were representing the Khmer Sar (White Khmer) group, and in the film, these Khmer Sar soldiers oppose both the Lon Nol and the Pol Pot armies. The Khmer Sar soldiers have the duty of broadcasting their group ideology to the people being evacuated from the city, right prior to the arrival of the Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Reach Sambath, spokesman for the KR Tribunal, said that he did not know about the filming of this documentary, and he also does not know about the meaning of this filming either. He added: “This has nothing to do with the KR Tribunal. I am not providing any comment about it.” Nevertheless, those who were part of the filming crew said that, in the near future, another similar scene will be shot at the Phnom Penh International airport, showing the arrival of returning Cambodian students during the KR regime.
On 02 January 2008, Koh Santepheap could not obtain any clarification from the royal palace officials regarding the shooting of this documentary film, however, an anonymous cameraman said that the story was penned down by former King Norodom Sihanouk himself. When the group of actors playing the role of evacuees were brought to sit on the south side of the Monument of Independence, the group of armed black-clad (Khmer Sar) soldiers forced them to shout and repeat after them: Victory! Victory!
Observers of the documentary shooting indicated that the evacuation of Phnom Penh started at around 2:00 PM on 17 April 1975, following the entrance of the KR soldiers into the city at about 11:00 AM. Some of the actors claimed that they don’t know the exact details of the evacuation because they did not live in Phnom Penh at all during that event, and they used to live in the provinces, but they did hear about this evacuation.
On 17 April 1975, the Khmer Rouge took over the city of Phnom Penh at around 11:00 AM, at that time Marshall Lon Nol’s soldiers dropped their weapons and several city dwellers came out to welcome the KR soldiers. Nevertheless, a few hours later, the KR soldiers forced them to leave the city without protesting.
In the early morning of 02 January 2008, about 100 city dwellers were brought in by cars to the Monument of Independence for a preparation to the filming of a documentary, and all the preparations were said to be organized by the royal palace directly. People with bicycles, cyclos, pushing carts, some carrying luggage pieces, hand carriers loaded with cooking pots, including both young and old, and including soldiers as well, were actively participating in the filming which was all planned in advance. Nevertheless, because of the many takes the filming was conducted, it seems that there was no initial preparation at all.
A man from Russei Keo district, Phnom Penh city, claimed that he and more than 100 other people were brought by car to the Monument of Independence to participate in the filming of the documentary, organized by the royal palace about the evacuation of Phnom Penh city dwellers during the period when Pol Pot troops entered the city on 17 April 1975. A man, who declined to provide his name, claimed: “The producer of the film gave me an old bicycle and a big piece of luggage to participate in the filming of this scene.”
The filming included a scene with a group of young and old people, all carrying various objects, who were forced to walk out of the Wat Langka pagoda towards the Monument of Independence. The walking scene was repeated several times. When they reached the Monument of Independence, the marchers were met by a group of soldiers riding 3 Jeep cars who were preventing them from climbing up the Monument of Independence.
The black-clad soldiers, armed with AK-47 rifles, indicated that they were representing the Khmer Sar (White Khmer) group, and in the film, these Khmer Sar soldiers oppose both the Lon Nol and the Pol Pot armies. The Khmer Sar soldiers have the duty of broadcasting their group ideology to the people being evacuated from the city, right prior to the arrival of the Khmer Rouge soldiers.
Reach Sambath, spokesman for the KR Tribunal, said that he did not know about the filming of this documentary, and he also does not know about the meaning of this filming either. He added: “This has nothing to do with the KR Tribunal. I am not providing any comment about it.” Nevertheless, those who were part of the filming crew said that, in the near future, another similar scene will be shot at the Phnom Penh International airport, showing the arrival of returning Cambodian students during the KR regime.
On 02 January 2008, Koh Santepheap could not obtain any clarification from the royal palace officials regarding the shooting of this documentary film, however, an anonymous cameraman said that the story was penned down by former King Norodom Sihanouk himself. When the group of actors playing the role of evacuees were brought to sit on the south side of the Monument of Independence, the group of armed black-clad (Khmer Sar) soldiers forced them to shout and repeat after them: Victory! Victory!
Observers of the documentary shooting indicated that the evacuation of Phnom Penh started at around 2:00 PM on 17 April 1975, following the entrance of the KR soldiers into the city at about 11:00 AM. Some of the actors claimed that they don’t know the exact details of the evacuation because they did not live in Phnom Penh at all during that event, and they used to live in the provinces, but they did hear about this evacuation.
On 17 April 1975, the Khmer Rouge took over the city of Phnom Penh at around 11:00 AM, at that time Marshall Lon Nol’s soldiers dropped their weapons and several city dwellers came out to welcome the KR soldiers. Nevertheless, a few hours later, the KR soldiers forced them to leave the city without protesting.
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In the spring of 1965, he made a deal with China and North Vietnam to allow the presence of permanent North Vietnamese bases in eastern Cambodia and to allow military supplies from China to reach Vietnam by Cambodian ports. Cambodia and Cambodian individuals were compensated by Chinese purchases of the Cambodian rice crop by China at inflated prices. He also at this time made any number of speeches calling the triumph of Communism in Southeast Asia inevitable and suggesting Maoist ideas were worthy of emulation. In 1966 and 1967, Sihanouk unleashed a wave of political repression that drove many on the left out of mainstream politics. His policy of friendship with China collapsed due to the extreme attitudes in China at the peak of the Cultural Revolution. The combination of political repression and problems with China made his balancing act impossible to sustain. He had alienated the left, allowed the North Vietnamese to establish bases within Cambodia and staked everything on China's good will. On March 18, 1970, while he was travelling out of the country, Lon Nol, the prime minister, convened the National Assembly which voted to depose Sihanouk as head of state and give emergency powers to Lon Nol. Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak, a royal prince who, in 1941, had been passed over by the French government in favor of his cousin Norodom Sihanouk's leadership role, retained his post as Deputy Prime Minister. Prince Sihanouk fled to Beijing and began to support the Khmer Rouge in their struggle to overthrow the Lon Nol government in Phnom Penh. When the Khmer Republic fell to the Khmer Rouge in April 1975, Prince Sihanouk became the symbolic head of state of the new régime while Pol Pot remained in power. The next year, on April 4, 1976, the Khmer Rouge forced Sihanouk out of office again and into political retirement. During the Vietnamese invasion, he was sent to New York to speak against Vietnam before the United Nations. After his speech, he sought refuge in China and in North Korea.
The Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia in December 1978 ousted the Khmer Rouge. Although claiming to be wary of the Khmer Rouge, Prince Sihanouk was more than willing to again join forces with them in order to provide a united front against the Vietnamese. In 1982, he became president of the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK), which consisted of his own Funcinpec party, Son Sann's KPNLF, and the Khmer Rouge. The Vietnamese withdrew in 1989, leaving behind a pro-Vietnamese government under ex-Khmer Rouge cadre Hun Sen to run the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK).
[edit] Restoration
Peace negotiations between the CGDK and the PRK commenced shortly thereafter and continued until 1991 when all sides agreed to a comprehensive settlement which they signed in Paris. Prince Sihanouk returned once more to Cambodia on November 14, 1991 after thirteen years in exile.
In 1993, Sihanouk once again became king of Cambodia. During the restoration, however, he suffered from ill health and traveled repeatedly to Beijing for medical treatment.
Sihanouk's leisure interests include music (he has composed songs in Khmer, French, and English) and film. He has become a prodigious filmmaker over the years, directing many movies and orchestrating musical compositions. He became one of the first heads of state in the region to have a personal website, which has proven a cult hit. It draws more than a thousand visitors a day, which constitutes a substantial portion of his nation's Internet users. Royal statements are posted there daily.
King Sihanouk went into self-imposed exile in January 2004, taking up residence in Pyongyang, North Korea and later in Beijing, China. Citing reasons of ill health, he announced his abdication of the throne on October 7, 2004. The constitution of Cambodia made no provision for such a move. Chea Sim, the President of the Senate assumed the title of acting Head of State (a title he has held many times before), until the throne council met on October 14 and appointed Norodom Sihamoni, one of Sihanouk's sons, as the new king.
[edit] Family
In his lifetime, King Norodom Sihanouk reportedly has had several wives and concubines, producing at least fourteen children in a period of eleven years. According to Time magazine (30 June 1956), however, his only legal wives have been Princess Samdech Norleak (married 1955, "not married but legalized") and Paule Monique Izzi (married 1955, not married but legalized), who is a granddaughter of HRH Prince Norodom Duongchak of Cambodia and the younger daughter of Pomme Peang and her second husband, Jean-François Izzi, a banker. A profile of Sihanouk in The New York Times (4 June 1993, page A8) stated that the king met Monique Izzi in 1951, when he awarded her a prize in a beauty pageant.
According to Royal Ark's genealogy of the Cambodian royal family, however, Sihanouk has been married (False) seven times.
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Hisconsorts being:[1]
(1) Neak Moneang Phat Kanhol (1920-1969, a member of the Royal Cambodian Ballet; married 1942, later divorced)
HRH Samdech Preah Ream Bupha Devi (1943-)
HRH Samdech Preah Krom Norodom Ranariddh (1944-)
(2) HRH Princess Sisowath Pongsanmoni (1929-1974; married 1942, divorced 1951)
HRH Samdech Borom Reamea Norodom Yuvaneath (1943-)
HRH Samdech Norodom Racvivong Sihanouk (1944-1973)
Samdech Preah Mohesarra Norodom Chakrapong (1945-)
HRH Samdech Princess Norodom Sorya Roeungsay (1947-1976)
HRH Princess Norodom Kantha Bopha (1948-1952)
HRH Samdech Norodom Khemanourak Sihanouk (1949-1975)
HRH Samdech Princess Norodom Botum Bopha (1951-1976)
(3) Anak Munang Thach (married 1943)
(4) HRH Princess Sisowath Monikessan (née HRH Princess Sisowath Naralaksha Munikesara, 1929-1946; married 1944)
HRH Samdech Norodom Naradipo (1946-1976)
(5) HRH Princess Samdech Preah Reach Kanitha Norodom Norleak (née Princess Devisa Naralakshmi, born 1927; married 1946 and "more formally" on 4 March 1955)
(6) Mam Manivan Phanivong (née Mam Munivarni Barni Varman, 1934-1975; married 1949)
HRH Princess Norodom Socheatha Sujata (1953-1975)
HRH Samdech Preah Anoch Norodom Arunrasmy (1955-)
(7) HM Queen Norodom Monineath Sihanouk (née Paule Monique Izzi, born 18 June 1936; married 12 April 1952 and "more formally" on 5 March 1955)
HM King Norodom Sihamoni (1953-)
HRH Samdech Norodom Narindrapong (1954-2003)
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"" until now, SIHANOUK never has had the royal wedding. when a women was attractive and beautiful, he asked his lackey to bring her to the royal palace.
If the relation lasted for a while and his concubines got children, he gave her a title as a royal concubine such as: MAM, NEAK MONEANG, KHUN etc...
- NEAK MONEANG Phat Kanhol, a member of the Royal Ballet (from 1942...).
- the princess SISOWATH Pongsanmoni (his AUNT) who was the daughter of HIS GRAND FATHER king SISOWATH Monivong, and the HALF SISTER of his MOTHER queen SISOWATH KOSSOMAK.( he was incestuous!)(from 1942...).
- Anak Munang Thach (from 1943...)
- The princess SISOWATH Monikessan ( his AUNT too) who was the DAUGHTER of the HIS GRAND FATHER King SISOWATH Monivong, and the HALF SISTER of his MOTHER Queen SISOWATH Kossomak. (he was again incestuous, isn't he? ( from 1944..
- Princess NORODOM NORLEAK, his cousin who is the niece of his mother QUEEN KOSSOMAK. When her and her husband had been introduced to SIHANOUK after their marriage; for him it was a love at first sight and the end justifies the means!
*In 1946 He stated relation with her .
*In 1955 he legalized her
as the first spouse ( Monique Izzi as the second wife in 1955 too.)
- MAM Manivan Phanivong (a Laotian)
that it was a love at first sight for him again, when he made a visit to Lao country in 1949.
- The last one, Monique Izzi became his last concubine in 1952 and legalized as a second wife at the same time than princess Norodom Norleak."
Holoywood must make a movie about him to show the world so that he and his royal family can be proud of him: laquey yuon, traitor, communist king, bloodthirsty, incestuous, lecher, selfish, .
As the witness of the April 17th 1975....I had seen this event cuz
my parents' house is at the Vithey Sihanouk ,no 50 is robbed & owned by Nhim Vanda,the one Arm General of CPP.
That morning I haven't seen any Khmer Sar who had the elegantly-clad Khmer Sar soldiers, wearing French soldier-like hats, who might be in Sihanouk's dream.
My parent's villa was located next door to Police Miltary's Head Quarter,is just across one small street.I've seen the troop were laydown their weapons on the ground and welcomed the arrival of Khmer Rouge Rouge troop.General Hem Saveth had accompanied Khmer Rouge's general into his office.
It was 9:30 morning....by 10:30 two young Khmer Soldiers were entering in our house...they ordered us to leave immedialy without closed the door.They pointed to us with their B40 by saying :" Get out,soon American plane would bombe Phnom Penh ".
Sihanouk's films was reflected my memory 32 years ago....1975.
Now he tries to rewrite & manupulate the event that he hasn't seen himself while he was in Beijing to applaud & drink Champane for Khmer Rouge Evil's Victory.
What's more he want from Cambodia & its People
Bun Heang Ung
Nothing against the king, but I just can't bother myself to watch the entirely movie made by him. His film is not that kind of reality reflecting the society of any nature. Just too much fantasy!
I should make judgement after the film come out! if I do it before the real compose of the film I may be ah Chkout not Shihanouk!
Let see how chkout is Shihanouk!\
May be he talk about his vision and dream not reality! Don't be fool by Shihanouk, yet!
Can Sihanouk be Khmer's last resort solution to Khmer's problem?
Khmer people, please think:
The Viet uses Sihanouk, the Chinese uses Sihanouk, Hun Sen uses Sihanouk, why can't Khmer make good use of Sihanouk before he dies?
Don't let Sihanouk go to waste Khmer people! Enough said?
Honestly:
Can Sam Raingsy alone win the 2008 election?
Can Kem Sokha alone win the 2008 election?
Can Sam Raingsy and Kem Sokha et al together united win the 2008 election?
If not,
Can Sihanouk be Khmer's last resort solution to Khmer's problem?
Khmer people, please think:
The Viet uses Sihanouk, the Chinese uses Sihanouk, Hun Sen uses Sihanouk, why can't Khmer make good use of Sihanouk before he dies?
Don't let Sihanouk go to waste Khmer people!
Enough said?
Come on, Father King comes out to defense yourself. If you don't, I will believe what have been commented above is true. Thus, I will never trust you again.
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