In due fairness to citizen Norodom Sihanouk

Dear KI-Media Readers,

While I understand the outrage among many Khmer quarters of the latest "declaration" of 100% support to Mr. Hun Sen by citizen Norodom Sihanouk, I don't think it is fair for us to revise history to adapt to our outrage. For example, when I read the challenge posted on KI-Media stating: "When Hun Sen and his Viet controlled regime took over, Sihanouk was there and had been (in his own words) behind it 100%, since", I believe that this statement is misleading and false. As much as the Cambodian monarchy disgusts me, the distortion of history disgusts me even more.

You all know full well that then-prince Sihanouk was no supporter of the Heng Samrin regime when it was installed by the Vietnamese invading army – a regime in which Mr. Hun Sen was an integral part of. Quite to the contrary to the statement above, then-prince Sihanouk was part of the force that resisted the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia during the 80s. With Mr. Hun Sen’s strong grip of power in Cambodia, then-king Sihanouk changed his mind and, for the sake of his son’s throne, shifted his position to provide support for Cambodia’s Strongman, to the chagrin of many of Cambodians. That much is history, but the blanket statement above is false and a manipulation of history by taking citizen Sihanouk’s statement out of its context.

I am also amazed and puzzled that nobody would stand up to correct the statement above. You may shoot me down for my position, curse me and accuse me of defending an indefensible institution, history is history, whether it is bad or good, and you cannot distort it to fit your position. Today, you bend history to fit your need and no one say anything about it, tomorrow, when Strongman Hun Sen bends history to claim that he is the hero-liberator of Cambodia, rather than the invading Vietnamese soldiers, will you remain silent as well? Where is your sense of fairness or fair play?

As always, I remain open to all your criticisms.

I thank you for your time,

P. from Long Beach

For reference, please find below a short but somewhat accurate history of citizen Sihanouk posted on Wikipedia.

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Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norodom_Sihanouk

In Khmer Rouge captivity

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. Sihanouk, who had imagined living like a retired country gentleman and perhaps being 'a public relations man for [his] country and have [...] jazz parties and do some filming'[7] was to spend the next few years virtually as a hostage of the Khmer Rouge. 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. While welcoming the ousting of the Khmer Rouge government, he remained firmly opposed to the Vietnamese-installed Heng Samrin government of People's Republic of Kampuchea. Hence, Sihanouk demanded Cambodia's seat in the UN be left vacant, since neither Pol Pot regime nor Heng Samrin represented the Khmer people[8]. Although claiming to be wary of the Khmer Rouge and demanding that the Khmer Rouge representatives that still held Cambodia's UN seat be expelled[9], Sihanouk again joined forces with them in order to provide a united front against the Vietnamese occupation. It has been argued that one of the reasons was the US pressure to work with the Khmer Rouge[10]. In 1982, he moved completely into opposition of the Vietnam-supported government, becoming President of the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea (CGDK), which consisted of his own Armée Nationale Sihanoukiste (ANS), Son Sann's Khmer People's National Liberation Front (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).

United States support

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Sihanouk's opposition forces drew limited military and financial support from the United States, which sought to assist his movement as part of the Reagan Doctrine effort to counter Soviet and Vietnamese involvement in Cambodia. One of the Reagan Doctrine's principal architects, the Heritage Foundation's Michael Johns, visited with Sihanouk's forces in Cambodia in 1987, and returned to Washington urging expanded U.S. support for the KPLNF and Sihanouk's resistance forces as a third alternative to both the Vietnamese-installed and supported Cambodian government and the Khmer Rouge, which also was resisting the government.[11]

Restoration as King

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 14 November 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.

Self-exile and abdication

Sihanouk went into self-imposed exile in January 2004, taking up residence in Pyongyang, North Korea[12] and later in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Citing reasons of ill health, he announced his abdication of The Throne on October 7 2004. Sihanouk was diagnosed with B-Cell Lymphoma in his prostate in 1993; the disease recurred in his stomach in 2005, and a new cancer was found in December 2008. Sihanouk also suffers from diabetes and hypertension.[13]

The constitution of Cambodia has no provision for an abdication. 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 H.R.H. Prince Norodom Sihamoni, one of Sihanouk's sons, as the new King.