The Emperor's New Clothes - a Cambodian adaptation

By Khmer Democrat, Phnom Penh
Adapted from Hans Christian Andersen via Wikipedia

Plot
An Emperor [read, Cambodian Dictator Hun Sen] who cares for nothing but his wardrobe hires two weavers [read, Cambodian Dictator's Vietnamese patron] who promise him the finest suit of clothes from a fabric invisible to anyone who is unfit for his position or "just hopelessly stupid". The Emperor [Dictator Hun Sen] cannot see the cloth himself (from spiritual and physical blindness because he only has one eye, plus, there's nothing to see!) but pretends that he can for fear of appearing unfit for his position or stupid; his ministers [read, Hor Nam Hong, Keat Chhon, Ang Vong Vathana et al] do the same.

When the swindlers [Vietnamese patron] report that the suit is finished, they dress him in mime and the Emperor [Dictator Hun Sen] then marches in procession before his subjects. A child [read, Heng Soy's 8-year-old precocious niece Thida] in the crowd calls out that the Emperor [Dictator Hun Sen] is wearing nothing at all [disgusting! LOL!] and the cry is taken up by others [read, Sam Rainsy, Thun Saray, Kek Galabru, Theary Seng, Ou Virak, Rong Chhun, Naly Pilorge, Mu Sochua, Kem Sokha (and 13.8 million other Cambodians, but more quietly in the safe confines of their dwellings, as they fear curses by Tep Vong, the Great Supreme Patriarch re-ordained under Vietnamese supervision in 1979, as they are still a superstitious people] as well as the visiting dignitaries in the audience [read, Yash Ghai, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Global Witness, OSJI Heather Ryan, UN Special Rapporteur Surya Subedi et al]. The Emperor [Dictator Hun Sen] cringes, suspecting the assertion is true, but holds himself up proudly and continues the procession [read, destruction of Cambodia].

Commentaries
Jack Zipes suggests that seeing is presented in the tale as the courage of one's convictions; Zipes believe this is the reason the story is popular with Cambodian democrats. Sight becomes insight, which, in turn, prompts action.

Scholars have noted that the phrase 'Emperor's new clothes' has become a standard metaphor for anything that smacks of pretentiousness, pomposity, social hypocrisy, collective denial, or hollow ostentatiousness by the Cambodian People's Party.

With each successive description of the swindlers' wonderful cloth, it becomes more substantial, more palpable, and a thing of imaginative beauty for the reader even though it has no material existence. Its beauty however is obscured at the end of the tale with the obligatory moral message for Cambodians. Maria Tatar is left wondering if the real value of the tale is the creation of the wonderful fabric in the reader's imagination or the tale's closing message of speaking truth no matter how humiliating to the recipient, Dictator Hun Sen.