Sihanouk's fall played fateful role

Sihanouk at his arrival in Moscow in March 1970

Lon Nol

On April 15, 1970, Sihanouk declared in a message, "Henceforth, I shall irreversibly be engaged in combat." He spoke of his "single objective of establishing in Cambodia a socialist regime whose leaders would be, on the one hand young, progressive nationalists, and on the other, communists.

And that's where we are today in Cambodia.

March 17, 2010
By A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
Pacific Daily News (Guam)

Forty years ago tomorrow, on a ride to Moscow Airport, Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin told Prince Sihanouk that the prince had been removed from power as Cambodia's chief of state.

The events that led to Sihanouk's downfall and those that followed cause me to write today's column with a heavy heart. Cambodia's national tragedy cost Cambodians two million lives and delivered the country to Vietnamese expansionism. The tragedy also took my parents' lives, alienated some of my best friends and separated me from the land of my birth.

Had those in power chosen different courses of action, much loss could have been avoided. As Karl Marx said, "History does nothing; it does not possess immense riches, it does not fight battles. It is men, real, living, who do all this."

Men tend to reject what they don't conform to their view, because not to reject means accepting they were wrong. They look for what supports their views, brush off what doesn't, and they dig in.

To argue that Sihanouk's overthrow brought the Vietnam War to Cambodia ignores the reality that Cambodia's compromised neutrality under Sihanouk's leadership brought Vietnamese infiltration and U.S. response across the Cambodian border long before the overthrow.

To argue U.S. bombings gave rise to the Khmer Rouge overlooks Sihanouk's role in their expansion and the years of support they received from Vietnamese and Chinese communists. The support continued even when the Khmer Rouge's atrocities were impossible to ignore.

Eventually, the Khmer Rouge, having developed a sense of omnipotence, became defiant of their Vietnamese benefactors. This led to the December 1978 military invasion by Vietnam. The success of that invasion led to the ouster of the Khmer Rouge, the establishment of a Vietnamese puppet regime in Phnom Penh, and the imposition of the 1979 unequal treaty of peace, friendship and cooperation, which opened the door to Cambodia becoming part of greater Vietnam, in fulfillment of Ho Chi Minh's dream.

We shall never know what now King Father Sihanouk and deceased former Premier Lon Nol conspired to achieve in March 1970.

"Les absents ont toujours tort," the French say. "The absent are always in the wrong" -- they cannot defend themselves.

Sihanouk won't tell. His political missteps led to Vietnamese presence in Cambodia as they fought their compatriots and the Americans. To get the Vietnamese communists out of Cambodia, Sihanouk reportedly told Lon Nol to organize anti-North Vietnamese and anti-Vietcong demonstrations, which got out of hand March 11.

On that day, Sihanouk told journalists, "I plan to ask the Russians and the Chinese authorities to ask the Vietcong to leave us in peace," otherwise Cambodia might go to "the right" with Lon Nol. Reportedly, Lon Nol assured Sihanouk on that day there was room for friendship with the communists, but the Lon Nol government told the communists to depart before dawn on March 15.

Seizing the political moment, an enraged Sihanouk denounced Lon Nol and company before leaving Paris for Moscow on March 13: They were "more patriots of the dollar than patriots of Cambodia."

Eventually, it was reported that a cassette recording of a closed-door meeting came to light. In the meeting it was alleged that Sihanouk threatened death to government leaders and Lon Nol. In Moscow later that day, Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny urged Sihanouk to return right away to Phnom Penh.

In Peking, China's foreign ministry summoned French Ambassador Etienne Manac'h on March 15 to ready an Air France plane to fly Sihanouk to Phnom Penh as soon as he arrived from Moscow. Press media reported from Phnom Penh of festive preparations to welcome Sihanouk along the road from Pochentong Airport.

But Sihanouk postponed his trip to Peking.

Lon Nol was said to have dragged his feet against Sihanouk's ouster until the evening of March 17, when he allegedly was confronted with the tape. On March 18, the Cambodian parliament voted 92 to 0 to depose Sihanouk as chief of state.

On March 21, the prince told the press in Peking: "It is absolutely not my intention to try to regain the power which I lost."

But two days later, on March 23, he reversed himself. Over Peking Radio, Sihanouk called on Khmers and foreign residents "to engage in guerrilla warfare in the jungle against our enemies," and announced the formation of the "National Union Government," the "National Liberation Army" and the "National United Front of Kampuchea."

In his "message and solemn declaration," Sihanouk spoke of personal revenge: "In the struggle which I am determined to see to its end (or at least until my death in the underground which I will soon join), I seek among other things, one personal goal. ... I will say that I want revenge."

On March 26, the Vietnamese Communists began military action in Cambodia's southern provinces.

On April 15, 1970, Sihanouk declared in a message, "Henceforth, I shall irreversibly be engaged in combat." He spoke of his "single objective of establishing in Cambodia a socialist regime whose leaders would be, on the one hand young, progressive nationalists, and on the other, communists.

And that's where we are today in Cambodia.

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam, where he taught political science for 13 years. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.

"Father of the Nation" a Cartoon by Sacrava

King-Father: The US recruited troops for the Khmer Rouge ... it was not Sihanouk

Translated from French by Luc Sâr

Cambodian Studies

WHO brought a large number of additional fighters to the Khmer Rouge and empowered them to win a decisive Victory on April 17, 1975?
By N. Sihanouk

The “Doctors” and other Sihanouk-haters consider as a glorious good fortune for them (as they hope) that they will benefit from the “support” and “aids” form the (infamous) UN ECCC, in order to punish, as severely as possible, N. Sihanouk who is “guilty, according to them, of giving to the Khmer Rouge “the Khmer People” so that they win a decisive victory, on April 17, 1975, which allows them to fulfill their genocidal ‘dream.’”

The “Dcotors” and other Sihanouk-haters have no shame whatsoever to contradict themselves, even in the face of History.

Between March 18, 1970, and April 17, 1975, these “Doctors” and other Sihanouk-haters (including Long Boret) affirmed to the world that “Sihanouk only represented himself” -sic!-. Then, now (in September 2007), a “Doctor” Sihanouk-hater is saying, writes, and proclaims that Sihanouk took advantage of his popularity (sic!) to bring so many of our People’s sons and daughters to fight for the Khmer Rouge, and allowing them to win a total Victory on April 17, 1975. These “Doctors” and other Sihanouk-haters demand the trial of N. Sihanouk by the UN ECCC, and his condemnation by this same Cambodian-UN tribunal for having committed, along with the Khmer Rouge, war crimes and crimes against humanity (sic!) against the Khmer People.

o O o

In a very recent MESSAGE in Khmer sent to Preah Sangha (Buddhist Clergy) and to all Compatriots, I re-established the historical truths during the decades of the Khmer Rouge and their various tribulations, on questions linked to their schemes, their hostility towards me. I will not talk about it here.

But, to end the writing of this article, I must mention this:

• The US “Pentagon” decided to use the US Air Force to destroy the independent and neutral Cambodia, and to ruin and kill its People starting from March 18, 1969, i.e. one year to the day of the March 18, 1970 Putsch (which was perpetrated) by the US lackeys in Phnom Penh.
• During the war (in Cambodia) from 1970 to 1975, the US Air Force conducted bombardments, machine gun shootings and other destruction actions against (Cambodian) villages, and the killings of Khmer villagers and Cambodian Patriots, day and night, all over Cambodia.
• The South Vietnamese (SVN) armed forces of Thieu-Ky looted, burnt, destroyed, annexed, colonized Cambodia, tortured and killed our men, raped our women (between April 1970 and April 1975).
• The US coined the verb “to Snuol” which meant “to destroy everything, to raze down everything, to murder everything, to kill everything,” just as the US and SVN troops did in Snuol, Cambodia.

o O o

The “Doctors” and other Sihanouk-haters should know that it was the USA themselves – the boss (of the Sihanouk-haters) – which forced our Khmer People to enroll in the Khmer Rouge Army. It was not Sihanouk who brought our Small People (ordinary citizens) to the Khmer Rouge.

(Signed) Norodom Sihanouk

King-Father: I did not join the Khmer Rouge ... they joined me

Translated from Khmer by Socheata and Heng Soy

Message
From
Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia

To highly respected Monks,
and all friendly and beloved Compatriots, Brothers and Sisters, Chidlren and Grandchildren, Great-Grandchildren, both inside and outside of the country

Phnom Penh 01 October 2007

I respectfully salute the highly respected and deeply beloved Monks,
Respected and deeply beloved Compatriots, Brothers and Sisters, Kaun Chao (Children and Grandchildren), Chao Tuot (Great grandchildren),

1- After Messrs. Lon Nol, Sirik Matak, Cheng Heng, In Tam, Sim Var, Trinh Hoanh, etc… perpetrated the coup d’état to topple me from the top of the state (and pushing me) to the very bottom, there were several brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren in Phnom Penh, Chrauy Changvar, and in a number of provinces in Cambodia, who demonstrated peacefully to demand that King-Father Norodom Sihanouk return back home freely and peacefully.

The Lon Nol group ordered the army to shoot and kill without mercy several hundreds and thousands of our (faultless) compatriots who were faithful to King-Father, using rifles, machine guns, and canons.

After learning about this extremely unfortunate news in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China, through major western press agencies, I wrote and read a message which was broadcasted many times by Beijing Radio, asking our compatriots who are willing to defend and find justice for King-Father, not to walk into the Lon Nol, Sirik Matak, etc… group to have themselves being savagely killed. If the brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren want to fight against the traitors of the nation, they were invited to enter the maquis (French for resistance movement). I said that I would find all kind of weapons for them, so that they would each have weapons to fight against the Lon Nol, Sirik Matak, etc… group.

o O o

In Beijing, H.E. Pham Van Dong, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), asked to meet me. In the name of the DRV, H.E. Pham Van Dong said: The government and the people of Vietnam are supporting me 100% and they are providing the Khmer compatriots who love King-Father, love justice, national independence, freedom, with armaments to fight and liberate the nation, as well as providing military training and expertise, as I requested them.

Therefore, I did not join the Khmer Rouge. To the contrary, it was the Khmer Rouge group who sent a letter, signed by Messrs. Khieu Samphan, Hou Yon, Hu Nim, etc…, to provide 100% support and to ask to join the movement I formed, that was the FUNK (French acronym: Front Uni National du Kampuchea, or NUFK in English: National United Front of Kampuchea) and the national liberation army, after they heard my message broadcasted by Beijing Radio on 23 March 1970.

2- I did not know or heard at all about the mass evacuation of the population from Phnom Penh, which was a Khmer Rouge decision made in April 1975. I sent a letter to Mr. Khieu Samphan asking the Khmer Rouge Angkar to allow Norodom Sihanouk to return back to Phnom Penh as before. Mr. Khieu Samphan replied back by mail that I cannot return back to Phnom Penh yet because of a severe epidemic outbreak. It was until later on that I learnt about the force evacuation of the Phnom Penh population after listening to VOA, BBC, and reading reports from the AFP, Reuters, UPI, and AP.

3- In Cambodia, starting from 1973, the Khmer Rouge decided to kill a large number of Sihanoukists, starting with the killing of fighting Sihanoukist soldiers, and army leaders. H.E. Um Manorin, the older brother of Queen-Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk, who fled from Phnom Penh to Beijing, also told me about this issue.

In Beijing, a number of Khmer Rouge intellectuals coming from Cambodia, France, the Soviet Union, etc…, and who were pro-Ieng Sary, proclaimed that the Khmer Rouge are thanking Messrs. Lon Nol, Sirik Matak, Sim Var, Douc Rasy, Trinh Hoanh, Cheng Heng, and In Tam, very much for perpetrating the coup d’état to topple and to severely punish Norodom Sihanouk whom the Khmer Rouge considered as the No. 1 enemy of their (Khmer Rouge) movement.

In Beijing, after learning and hearing about this, I called in the Khmer Rouge group, who were lodged at the “Friendship Hotel” by the Super Friend China, to come to my royal residence located at 15 Dong Jiao Min Xiang Street, to tell them: Please note that, when the war will end, I, Norodom Sihanouk will certainly stop working with the Khmer Rouge.

o O o

When the war was over, I wrote a letter asking Mr. Khieu Samphan and the Khmer Rouge Angkar to allow me to return back home to live among our people. After returning back home, through the radio stations of VOA, France Inter, BBC, and Veritas Philippines, I learnt clear information from interviews conducted with several of our compatriots who fled Cambodia to find refuge in Thailand and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Through the radio interviews above, all our refugee compatriots provided detailed information to the world about the crimes committed by Khmer Rouge who were savagely and unfairly torturing and killing their own people. I wrote several letters, one after another, to the Khmer Rouge Angkar to resign from my position as State President (this was a nominal position only, I did not have any power at all), so I can retire.

The Khmer Rouge Angkar begged me twice. Because of my insistence, the Khmer Rouge Angkar took 5 of my own children, 14 of my grandchildren, innumerable relatives, the older sister of Queen-Mother Norodom Monineath Sihanouk, etc…, to torture and to savagely kill them.

o O o

Is it true that I joined the Khmer Rouge and became their accomplice in the torturing of our own people?

o O o

I am expressing my gratitude to the monks, to the party, to the Personalities and People, and to H.E. Julio A. Jeldres, who provided me with justice at present time.

Thank you very much

(Signed) Norodom Sihanouk

Srey Nory: Pests (troublemakers) beware!

Norodom Sihanouk would be “very demoralized”

01-10-2007
By CS
Cambodge Soir
Translated from French by Luc Sâr

King-Father informs about his desire not to be “bothered,” and he does not want particular ceremonies held on the occasion of his upcoming birthday on 31 October.

In a communiqué made public Sunday, Srey Nory, the director of the Royal Secretariat of Cambodia, asked that all useless correspondence (emails, letters, faxes, or telegrams) addressed to King-Father be stopped. The text indicated that “King-Father Norodom Sihanouk is very old, very weak, and very demoralized.” The Royal Secretariat added: “We are informing the troublemakers (or pests) that from now on, there will no longer be responses provided by King-Father Norodom Sihanouk, by his cabinet, or by his secretariat.” In another hand-written communiqué, Sihanouk also asked with insistence to the Khmer and Foreign Personalities and People, to the constituted institutions, to newspapers, etc…, etc… not to send me wishes or congratulations or gifts, not to organize a ceremony nor any meeting in my favor or in my regards, during the occasion of his birthday on 31 October. In the same communiqué, Norodom Sihanouk indicated that “the Sihanouk-haters, such as the famous Dr. Lao Mong Hay, are and will be free to attack me verbally or in writing. But they do not have the right to slander me.” He added: “If they slander me, I am reserving the right to officially sue them at our national Justice, our national tribunals.” Lao Mong Hay, a researcher who currently works for the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Committee, recently wrote about the fact that he was in favor that Norodom Sihanouk be summoned by the KR Tribunal to clarify issues concerning his responsibility during the taking of power by the Polpotists between 1975 and 1979.

Amb Julio A Jeldres: King-Father resigned from his position as DK President before the genocide took place?

Trial by fury in Cambodia

MELBOURNE, Sep. 27
JULIO A. JELDRES
Posted at UPI Asia Online

Guest Commentary

Click here to read a translated version of the call issued by
then-Prince Sihanouk from Beijing on 23 March 1970

In his commentary entitled "No immunity for Sihanouk" dated Sept. 5, Dr. Lao Mong Hay argues that retired King Sihanouk should not be given immunity by the mixed Cambodian-U.N. tribunal set up to try Khmer Rouge leaders. Lao writes: "Sihanouk, while in China in the immediate aftermath of being overthrown, became the head of the Khmer Rouge-dominated government in exile. From China, Sihanouk used his popularity to mobilize the Cambodian people 'to go into the maquis (jungle)' to join the Khmer Rouge."

Lao also writes: "Furthermore, many Cambodian people still believe that Sihanouk was instrumental in the Khmer Rouge's victory and was therefore also responsible for the suffering of the Cambodian people under the Khmer Rouge's rule. They also want justice and to know the truth about their horrible past history in which Sihanouk must have had a hand due to his association with the Khmer Rouge."

These are serious allegations against retired King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, yet Lao has offered no evidence to support his claims.

Firstly, Samdech Sihanouk did not join the Khmer Rouge; they adhered to his United National Front of Kampuchea (FUNK) which was established by the retired King in Beijing on March 23, 1970, after he had been overthrown by a U.S.-supported coup led by General Lon Nol. There is a statement signed by Khieu Samphan, Hu Nim and Hou Youn, nominal leaders of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s, to that effect. Khieu Samphan is still alive in Cambodia and he can be consulted about the veracity of this. Hu Nim and Hou Youn were killed by Pol Pot.

Secondly, If Lao cares to consult the series of messages King Sihanouk issued to the Cambodian people from Beijing, he never told them "to go and join the Khmer Rouge" but rather to join the resistance fighting the Lon Nol regime and the U.S. and South Vietnamese invaders. The resistance was not comprised solely of Khmer Rouge but initially of a majority of supporters of Sihanouk, even some princes of the royal family, public servants, diplomats and the people, who had been driven toward the resistance by the U.S. carpet bombing of Cambodia and the tremendous corruption of the Lon Nol regime.

That these non-Khmer Rouge, nationalist, pro-Sihanouk forces were later on liquidated by the Khmer Rouge, allowing it to take the upper hand and achieve final victory in April 1975, is another completely different story.

Thirdly, King Sihanouk was head of state of the Royal Government of National Union of Cambodia, which was established in exile in Beijing in May 1970. It was in that capacity that Samdech Sihanouk returned to Cambodia from Sept. 9 to 28, 1975, then proceeded to China for the National Day and then to New York for the U.N. General Assembly.

After visiting the United Nations, he undertook a long trip of Arab, African and European countries that had recognized his government from 1970 to 1975, and then on Dec. 30, 1975, he returned to Cambodia.

In Phnom Penh, he lived under house arrest and could only leave the Royal Palace when the Khmer Rouge allowed him to make visits to the countryside. All contact with the Cambodian people was forbidden, even with his own children, grand-children and other members of the royal family.

The deputy chief of mission of the Romanian Embassy in Beijing, a gentleman surnamed Lefter who visited Cambodia in late January 1976, upon his return to Beijing told U.S. diplomats that he had had a three-hour private conversation with Sihanouk. He described the prince as being very sad and feeling that he had been dealt a double blow, first by the Lon Nol coup and second by the Khmer Rouge. Sihanouk had lost weight, was despondent and feared for his life, he said.

An Egyptian diplomat in China by the name of Tewfik, who had known Sihanouk since 1958, visited Cambodia in early March 1976. He commented to the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing that Sihanouk "was a head of state who had nothing to do with the day-to-day business of government."

Both diplomats felt that Samdech Sihanouk did not enjoy much power or influence and that he owed his life to the influence of China with the Khmer Rouge, and to the interest other foreign heads of state showed for his well-being.

In 1977, President Josip Tito of Yugoslavia, for instance, was only willing to receive a visiting Khmer Rouge delegation led by Ieng Sary after he was given assurances that his ambassador in Phnom Penh would have access to Sihanouk.

Samdech Sihanouk submitted his resignation in early March 1976. Thus, it would have been very difficult for His Majesty to "have had a hand" in the horrible events that took place in Cambodia afterwards.
--
(Ambassador Julio A. Jeldres is a former senior private secretary to King Norodom Sihanouk and the king's official biographer. He established the Khmer Institute of Democracy in Phnom Penh in 1992 and has worked as consultant to several U.N. agencies in Bangkok. He is presently a research fellow at Monash University's Asia Institute in Melbourne, Australia.)

CSLHRC's Dr Heang Rithy: Dr Lao Mong Hay made a very serious mistake by criticizing the Hero-King w/o sufficient proof of his past KR association

Dr Heang Rithy (pointing arrow) of the CSLHRC during an audience with King Sihamoni (Photo: CNRO)

CSLHRC opposes Dr Lao Mong Hay who blamed King-Father

Thursday, September 27, 2007
Koh Santepheap newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

The Committee Strict Law Enforcement for Human Rights in Cambodia (CSLHRC) issued a statement to oppose Dr. Lao Mong Hay, a researcher at the Asian Human Rights Commission, who wrote an editorial published by a local newspaper, in which he stated that Samdech Norodom Sihanouk, the Hero-King of Cambodia, should share the responsability with the former Khmer Rouge leaders, because the then-prince Sihanouk was involved with the (Khmer Rouge) regime also.

In his statement, CSLHRC’s Dr. Heang Rithy explained that on this issue, Dr. Lao Mong Hay should have sufficient solid legal evidence. Regarding another statement (by Dr. Lao Mong Hay) published by the Cambodian paper saying: “He (King-Father) should be stripped of immunity so that he could appear in court,” CSLHRC explained that, legally, the lifting of the Hero-King’s immunity is the jurisdiction of the court if there is sufficient legal evidence.

The CSLHRC statement said that this is the legal measure of the national and international laws. Nobody can talk like in the demand made by Dr. Lao Mong Hay by using a right that is not based on the law at all, in spite of the fact that he is (part of) a human rights organization. A talk or a demand made without evidence can cause confusions among Cambodian people, and lead them to hate the Hero-King.

According to the national and international law, and in particular, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which stipulates in its Article 19 that “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers,” but it should not infringe on the rights of others.

Article 41 of the Cambodian Constitution stipulates that: “Khmer citizens shall have freedom of expression, press, publication and assembly. No one shall exercise this right to infringe upon the rights of others, to affect the good traditions of the society, to violate public law and order and national security.” Therefore, the expression of opinion of each individual must not infringe upon the rights of others, nor upon the dignity and honor of others.

In conclusion, the expression of opinion or the demands made that the Hero-King should share responsibility with the Khmer rouge leaders is a very serious mistake, because there is no document to prove that he (King-Father) participated (with the Khmer Rouge regime. Dr. Heang Rithy also called, in the name of CSLHRC, that all human rights organizations, before they criticize anybody, they should have sufficient proof, in particular, they should review the legal aspect of the law, etc…

Can the Khmer Rouge Tribunal be fair?

HONG KONG, Sep. 19
LAO MONG HAY
Posted at UPI Asia Online
Column: Rule by Fear

In August there was a flurry of statements from the Cambodian government and other state institutions to affirm and defend former King Sihanouk's immunity from any court order to appear in the Khmer Rouge Tribunal as a defendant or a witness.

This tribunal is a mixed panel comprising Cambodian judges and international judges supplied by the United Nations. It has been set up and functions under Cambodian law to try the Khmer Rouge leaders most responsible for the crimes committed under their rule, between 1975 and 1979.

Sihanouk was head of state of the Khmer Rouge regime until 1976 and, as such, he has been held by many Cambodians to share responsibility for those crimes. Some of those Cambodians have requested that he be stripped of immunity so that he could appear in court.

The Cambodian government sensed the real possibility that the tribunal might issue an order for him to appear. This possibility was later implied by the tribunal's U.N. deputy administrator in a letter of reply to Sihanouk's call on that tribunal to talk with him over his role and association with the Khmer Rouge. The letter said that "only the tribunal's judges are to decide who should appear as a witness." In order to eliminate that possibility, the government issued a threat that "Cambodia will kick out the Khmer Rouge Tribunal if it brings great, valorous King Sihanouk to trial."

That threat is yet another testimony that the Cambodian government is controlling the judiciary, including the tribunal. Sihanouk himself confirmed this government control in his open letter in English, dated Sept. 1, to that tribunal. In the letter he said that he "will not accept to give up the royal immunity ... unless the International Court of The Hague is given the responsibility of judging [him] and, eventually, sentencing [him] to prison." He emphatically added that he did not accept "to be judged by the Khmers [Cambodians] because there is only an indefinitely small number of independent, neutral and impartial Khmers."

The government exercises this control through the judges' membership in the ruling party, the Cambodian People's Party or CPP. This is a former communist party whose discipline and control have remained as strong as ever. The government also controls the judiciary through its open and discrete action against judges.

In May 2006 the Cambodian administrator of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal held a press conference to announce the appointment of judges and prosecutors on that tribunal. Among the questions posed was one about the party affiliations of the judicial officers, Cambodian and international. There was no straight answer to that question, but the next day Prime Minister Hun Sen publicly blasted the author of that question, calling him a "perverted sex-crazed animal" for raising the issue of the Cambodian judges' membership in the CPP, which the government has not denied, and their lack of independence.

Among the open and direct measures to control the judiciary can be cited the much publicized "iron fist" policy Hun Sen introduced in 2004, whcih was allegedly aimed at ridding the judiciary of corruption. A few judges and other judicial officers were then tried, but were acquitted later for lack of evidence.

That was enough to instill fear among all judges and prosecutors across the country, however. This drastic measure followed Hun Sen's 1999 order to rearrest people released by the courts in defiance of the principle of res judicata, or double jeopardy. That measure was allegedly aimed at combating crimes.

The United Nations, which has assisted Cambodia in the creation and running of the tribunal, is not unfamiliar with this political control of the judiciary. The U.N. secretary-general's successive special envoys for human rights in Cambodia since 1993 have all known about it and have tried in vain to wean the judiciary from such control.

In 1998, at the Cambodian government's request, three U.N. experts were appointed to explore the feasibility of a Khmer Rouge trial. In its field study of the judiciary in Cambodia in 1999, the group discovered, among other things, this political control. Together with the other drawbacks it had discovered, the group came up with a conclusion that "domestic trials organized under Cambodian law are not feasible and should not be supported financially by the United Nations."

The United Nations ignored that recommendation, however, and went ahead with its assistance to the tribunal and trials under Cambodian law. Now the issue of former King Sihanouk's immunity has put the tribunal under the spotlight of political control. No Khmer Rouge leader has been in the dock as yet, and it is a big question mark whether this Cambodian-U.N. tribunal can effectively free itself from political control, function as an independent court, and meet an expectation, among many others, that it will serve as a catalyst for the independence of the Cambodian justice system.
--
(Lao Mong Hay is currently a senior researcher at the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong. He was previously director of the Khmer Institute of Democracy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and a visiting professor at the University of Toronto in 2003. In 1997, he received an award from Human Rights Watch and the Nansen Medal in 2000 from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.)

Political Cartoon: Xihanuk & Paris Match, May 1975

Cartoons by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Thomico asks Funcinpec not to support the KRT

Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

After asking prime minister Hun Sen to shut down the tribunal to judge the former KR leaders, Prince Thomico turned to ask the Funcinpec party to put to an end to its support of this tribunal. Prince Thomico who is currently a senior advisor of Funcinpec, sent a letter on 18 September to the Funcinpec permanent committee, requesting it to ask the council of ministers to shut down the KR Tribunal. In his letter, Thomico said that the Hero-King Norodom Sihanouk declared on many occasion that he does not trust that this tribunal can provide justice to all people who are victims of the genocidal regime, therefore, the Funcinpec party, as a Sihanoukist party, should ask the council of ministers to rethink about the possibility and the legal means to shut down the KRT. The prince also called on all political parties, such as the HRP and the SRP, to help ask for the shutdown of the KRT.

Historical Document: Excerpt of the talk between Alain Peyrefitte and Prince Norodom Sihanouk on the eve of the fall of Phnom Penh

PARIS MATCH
Issue # 1353
May 3, 1975
Article translated from French and posted online

On the eve of the fall of Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, Sihanouk who took refuge in Beijing since he was deposed by the Cambodian National Assembly and the Council of the Kingdom on March 18, 1970, gave a reception to Mr. Alain Peyrefitte, the former minister of General de Gaulle. Their talk was published in the French magazine “Paris Match”, No. 1353, dated May 3, 1975. A large excerpt of this talk is provided below:

“On September 1st, 1966, in Phnom Penh, the capital of a free and peaceful Cambodia, General de Gaulle publicly condemned (he did it confidentially since 1960 without anybody in the world ever heard about it) the US military intervention in Vietnam. He countered this US policy, which he claimed to be doomed with catastrophe, with the exemplary policy of neutrality maintained since 1954 by the young head of state who welcomed him: Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

The US underestimated Norodom Sihanouk’s personality. After chasing him out, he was thrown into the hands of the Khmer Rouge who, up to then, fought against him. When things turn sour, the US tried to separate Norodom Sihanouk from the Khmer Rouge. It was a lost cause! The US have hooked him up with the Khmer Rouge “in life as well as in death (i.e. for eternity)”, as he said it in his own words.

I met the prince in Beijing where he took refuge after the coup d’état perpetrated against him while he was in Moscow.

Since 1971, the Chinese had magnificently installed him in the former French Embassy. He turned this sumptuous palace into the center of Cambodian resistance. He warmly received me, accompanied by Maurice Papon and Albert Marcenet. During two hours, he tiredlessly showed us, with his expressive mimics, his outburst of voice, his picturesque verbal inventions, that nothing would cut into his determination.

“I am General de Gaulle,” he declared to me, “the General de Gaulle in London.” The contrast between this chubby small man and the memory of the thin giant brought smiles to our faces.

“But of course,” he explained to us sharply, “like him, I have only one goal: to free my country, only one mean: to make war, to coordinate the resistance, to revive the courage by talking to the heart of my people. At the beginning, de Gaulle also was alone, nobody believed in him. Little by little, they joined him from all over the places. The Chinese welcome me just like the British welcomed him; I am their guest, I am not their man, no more than he was the host of the British.”

- The Khmer Rouge are communists, I noted.
- That’s true; but they have to go through me because I embody the legitimacy. They need me, and I know that Cambodia needs them. I will tell the Cambodian people and they will believe me.
- Are you becoming communist, Your Highness?
- No, I don’t think so, in our Southeast Asia, communism has its good sides. You can see what is happening in China. Furthermore, there is no choice. After what the Americans did, I have only one choice, that one.
- Fidel Castro in Havana, told me more or less the same thing: “I was never a Marxist-Leninist, but the US embargo took away from me all other possibilities except this one.”

Norodom Sihanouk invited us to pick up the ivory chopsticks to eat fried shrimps. Suddenly pensive, he started again: “After the victory, I will stay only maybe six months. It is not important. I will accomplish my duty. I will have led the resistance. I will have liberated my homeland. I will be able to leave. De Gaulle did not remain either. If the Khmer Rouge think they no longer need me when the enemy will be chased out, and the countrypacified, I will not hold on. I will then ask France to welcome me in the Midi for the rest of my days.”

He took his breath for a short while before continuing with rage, and this time, his rage had a self-criticism tone to it: “There was too much corruption. There has always been, but with the Americans, now, the corruption has triumphed, it has spread all over. They symbolize the corruption. Everybody think only about money. From the top to the bottom, it is embezzlement of public funds, breach of trust, corruption, servitude. They sell their souls for dollars. But every cloud has a silver lining. We were already corrupt and we did not know it. Now, we know and we find the strength to cleanse ourselves. The Americans create the hate of corruption because everything they symbolized is hated.”

His chopsticks quickly dropped in my plate some pieces of roast duck: “ Phnom Penh,” he continued, “wallowed itself up in collaboration. It is an infected wound on the innocent face of Cambodia. Queen-Mother who abandoned me when I had my back turned, I will humiliate her. The middle-class of Phnom Penh who had betrayed their leader and their homeland, I will humiliate them; to punish them, I will not enter the capital with the troop, I will have them chased out first. I do not want to re-establish there after the Liberation. Instead, I will have a wooden hut built for me in the forest of Angkor, and it will be there that people will come to visit me. Phnom Penh is Vichy. Lon Nol is Laval. I will have him shot, of course. But, since he is Khmer, and that all Khmer people are my children, I will have him shot with tenderness.”

We have to recognize that the prophecy is realized in large part. Lon Nol escaped the firing squad but not his brother, it was said: Phnom Penh will be indeed humiliated, emptied of its inhabitants. And Sihanouk will put his legitimacy and his asset to the service of communism, maybe without too much illusions on the duration and the nature of his role.

He told me, with his flair for paradox which only serves to dress up his inner thoughts: “I do not hold a grudge against the Americans. They would have been the agents of the Providence. They will allow Cambodia to redeem itself. But I hold a grudge against France. Do you recall: de Gaulle held a grudge against the Americans for maintaining an embassy in Vichy ? How can you maintain an embassy with the Phnom Penh puppets, and none with me?” I noted to the prince that we do not recognize regimes, but countries. The presence of an embassy in Phnom Penh simply meant that it is taking care on the spot of our citizens and our interests. “It’s the same,” he insisted, “I will see if France will have a friendly gesture towards me.”

Political Cartoon: A Wonder-Foul Man

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Thomico to Hun Sen: Shut down the KRT because the Hero-King has no confidence in the ECCC to provide justice to the entire people in the country

Thomico wants Hun Sen to dissolve the KR Tribunal

Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

"...Khieu Kanharith expressed his doubts on the UN side regarding the progress of the KRT, (he blamed) the UN side of raising one problem after another, such as the demand for a lowering of the defense lawyer fees, and now the Hero-King issue. He asked: 'What is their intention?'"

Prince Sisowath Thomico proposed to prime minister Hun Sen to review the possibility to shut down the KR Tribunal (KRT), claiming that this mixed tribunal cannot find justice, but that it is instead fomenting political movements and it will cause instability to the country and take away peace.

In a letter dated 16 September 2007 sent to prime minister Hun Sen, Prince Thomico said that the Hero-King declared on many occasions that he has no confidence in the ECCC to provide justice to the entire people in the country. The prince himself also has no confidence that he will receive justice from the KRT either. To the contrary, based on the events in the past two weeks, the prince observed that there are opportunists who took advantage of the nation’s pain and turn it into political gain instead.

Prince Thomico added: “Moving forward, I am certain that this tribunal (KRT) will foment political movements and causes our country to lose peace and stability in the future.” The prince added: “I have the honor to send a letter to Samdach prime minister so that he reviews the possibility to shut down the ECCC at this point.”

Reach Sambath, the KRT spokesman, said on Monday afternoon that the KRT saw Prince Thomico’s letter sent to Hun Sen. He added: “What the prince raised in his letter is only an opinion. We do not comment on opinions.” Nevertheless, Reach Sambath indicated that the goal of the KRT is to find justice. The KRT was formed based on an agreement between the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) and the US under a law ratified by the National Assembly, and signed by the king.

Khieu Kanharith, the minister of information and spokesman of the government, said: “The RGC have no desire to shut down this tribunal.” He added that the KRT did not do anything wrong. However, he said that it was people living overseas who talked wrongly, and that these are not the judges’ words. Therefore, Khieu Kanharith said that the KRT will continue its work. He said: “The RGC is determined to judge to KR leaders.”

Nevertheless, Khieu Kanharith expressed his doubts on the UN side regarding the progress of the KRT, (he blamed) the UN side of raising one problem after another, such as the demand for a lowering of the defense lawyer fees, and now the Hero-King issue. He asked: “What is their intention?”

According to Article 46 of the law to set up the KRT, in the event the foreign judges and prosecutors are pulling themselves out of Cambodia, Cambodia can invite other judges from countries members of the United Nations, or other important foreign legal personalities from other countries as well. However, if there are no foreign judges and prosecutors, the supreme council of magistracy can nominate Cambodian judges, or Cambodian investigating judges, or Cambodian prosecutors to replace them.

The dispute on the KRT started when Peter Foster, the UN spokesman of the KRT, raised the issue about the possibility that the KRT could summon the Hero-King if the judges and the prosecutors deem that it is necessary to do so. Later on, a “small” number of opinions, including those of Dr. Lao Mong Hay, want to revoke the immunity of the Hero-King to pave the way for the Hero-King to go to the court.

Khmer Rouge tribunal in jeopardy (again)

Sep 18, 2007
By Julio A Jeldres
Asia Times (Hong Kong)

The viability of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), the official name for the mixed Cambodian-United Nations tribunal established last year to try senior Khmer Rouge leaders, is once again in doubt, with senior government officials threatening to boot the legal body from the country. Crucially, this time the conflict is not about money or international representation, but rather the integrity of the Cambodian monarchy.

The latest controversy surrounds whether retired king Norodom Sihanouk, 85, should or should not be called to testify at the tribunal. The UN has been noncommittal about whether it would call on the retired monarch to the stand. Information Minister Khieu Kanarith recently threatened to kick the tribunal out of Cambodia if it decided to call Sihanouk as a witness.

He added that the ECCC operates under Cambodian law, that the same law guarantees Sihanouk's immunity, and that any attempt to lift that immunity "would be illegal and thus justify the termination of the tribunal's proceedings".

Since the UN began talks with Phnom Penh in 1997 about establishing the ECCC, the tribunal has been plagued by controversy, lack of funds and glacial progress. Last month one of the tribunal's senior Cambodian co-investigating judges, You Bunleng, was transferred to the presidency of the troubled Cambodian Court of Appeals. UN officials felt it amounted to interference in the tribunal's work and asked the government to reconsider the appointment.

The special representative of the UN secretary general for human rights in Cambodia, Yash Ghai, described the judge's transfer decree as "unconstitutional and unlawful", and opposition parties and human-rights workers in Phnom Penh also challenged the action. It appeared to have been made at the personal request of Prime Minister Hun Sen, casting foreign doubts on the constitutionally guaranteed principle of judicial independence.

While this controversy unfolded, the ECCC was at the same time moving to charge its first suspect, the infamous Kaing Kek Iev, alias Duch, who was in charge of the notorious Khmer Rouge prison S-21, where thousands were tortured and murdered. The timing prompted some observers to ask whether someone was trying to derail the process against Duch.

Then a little-known organization calling itself the Cambodian Action Committee for Justice and Equity, based in the small town of Revere, Massachusetts, wrote to the Speaker of the Cambodian National Assembly, Heng Samrin, asking him to convoke a plenary session "to remove the immunity of the former monarch Norodom Sihanouk and revoke Article 7 of the Cambodian constitution, which states that the person of the king is inviolable".

After Sihanouk retired as monarch in October 2004, the Cambodian National Assembly and Senate bestowed upon him the title of "Great Valorous King" and granted him the same privileges and immunities as those constitutionally given to the reigning monarch under Article 7 of the constitution. Legislation to that effect was passed by Parliament in that October and promulgated by King Norodom Sihamoni that same month.

Obscure outpost

What followed the request by this little-known US-based group can only be described as a crescendo of furious declarations and, unfortunately, also threats to the real existence of the tribunal. The ruling Cambodian People's Party issued a statement on August 24 that strongly rejected the request to remove Sihanouk's immunity and suggested that it was "aimed at destroying the stability, the unity and the progress of the nation".

The ruling party's statement was followed by similar statements by Funcinpec, the minor coalition partner in the government, and other smaller parties without representation in the Cambodian National Assembly. Significantly, the represented opposition party, named after its president, Sam Rainsy, did not issue any statement on the issue.

Sihanouk, who since his retirement in 2004 has been in poor health but has lost none of his political acumen or intellectual capacity, limited himself to writing letters thanking the parties that had expressed support for him. Hun Sen went on national radio and described the request as "a tactic to destroy Cambodia" and added that Sihanouk and his family had suffered greatly under the Khmer Rouge regime.

Hun Sen, who has a reputation for threatening his opponents, ministers and public servants on national radio and television, said there would be "consequences" for anyone who tried to lift Sihanouk's immunity.

He then proceeded to read from the minutes of a meeting of the Standing Committee of Democratic Kampuchea, the official name of the Khmer Rouge regime, held after Sihanouk resigned as head of state in March 1976. At the time, Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot ordered that Sihanouk not be allowed to leave the country, that his two younger sons, the children of Queen Monineath, be recalled to Cambodia, and that Sihanouk be kept under house arrest at the royal palace and that all his conversations be recorded.

Soon after Hun Sen's outburst, a UN public relations staffer of the ECCC told the Cambodia Daily English-language newspaper that "it was up to tribunal judges and prosecutors to decide whom to call as a witness and whom to indict. The retired king could be called as a witness, but whether he's bound to show up is another question entirely."

In typical fashion, Sihanouk seized the opportunity and, on August 30, issued an invitation to the UN officials associated with the tribunal, including its international spokesman, Peter Foster, to visit the palace on September 8 for a three-hour conversation on "the affairs of the Khmer Rouge and Sihanouk". After that, Sihanouk stated that he would have nothing else to do with the ECCC proceedings.

On September 6, the UN-appointed deputy director of the tribunal's administration, Michelle Lee, sent a response to the royal palace declining Sihanouk's invitation. "I was not authorized to participate in this meeting, nor were other UN officials," Foster said during an interview from Phnom Penh. "We responded by saying that only the judges involved in the trial will be able to determine who will be a witness. The judges will do so based on procedural rules."

One week later, the leading pro-ruling-party Khmer-language newspaper Rasmey Kampuchea carried an anonymous op-ed piece suggesting that Lee's response declining Sihanouk's terms did not give a formal assurance that the retired monarch would not be called to testify. Because of that, the newspaper said, the issue could lead to a confrontation between the government and the UN as "a test for the cooperation between Cambodia and the UN".

Royal suffering

At the same time he invited UN tribunal members to meet with him, Sihanouk also issued a number of releases describing how he and his family, as well as other members of the royal family, had been treated under the Khmer Rouge. The list included the disappearance of five of his 14 children and 14 of his grandchildren, together with his aunts, uncles and cousins as well as loyal diplomats and staffers.

Sihanouk also blamed the United States for the events that led to the Khmer Rouge taking over Cambodia in 1975. Historians agree that until March 18, 1970, when Sihanouk was overthrown by a US-supported coup led by General Lon Nol, he had managed to keep the insurgent Khmer Rouge forces, then estimated at only about 3,000, largely under control.

The savage US bombing of Cambodia, the corruption of the Lon Nol regime and the unwillingness of the administration of US president Richard Nixon to talk to Sihanouk, who had taken refuge in Beijing, as well as changes in the leadership of China after prime minister Zhou Enlai's death, all catapulted the Khmer Rouge to victory in April 1975. Sihanouk resigned at head of state in March 1976.

While researchers and historians have found no evidence linking Sihanouk to the policies and mass killings by the Khmer Rouge, the former king has also stated that he would agree to appear at a tribunal at The Hague, but not in Cambodia - a statement that indicated his lack of faith in the ECCC's integrity.

The latest threat to close down the ECCC strengthens the argument that the tribunal will fail because, in a country where the judiciary is completely dependent on the ruling party's will, the Cambodian judges may not be able to act independently together with the UN-appointed judges.

Another question is how the so-called Cambodian Action Committee for Justice and Equity, unregistered in the US and staffed it seems by a single person, could stir such controversy.

All indications are that the coming weeks will prove crucial for the maligned ECCC, for the independence of Cambodia's judiciary, and for those who seek justice for the horrendous crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge.

Ambassador Julio A Jeldres is a research fellow at the Asia Institute of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and Norodom Sihanouk's official biographer.

Cambodia To Terminate Khmer Rouge Tribunal If Sihanouk Still Wanted To Testify

Great heroic King Norodom Sihanouk will become a confrontation between Cambodia and the United Nations in the trial process for former Khmer Rouge [KR] leaders

13 September 2007
Rasmei Kampuchea
Translated from Khmer and posted online

"Great heroic King Norodom Sihanouk will become a confrontation between Cambodia and the United Nations in the trial process for former Khmer Rouge [KR] leaders," said an unattributed report from the 13 September edition of the pro-government Cambodian newspaper Phnom Penh Reaksmei Kampuchea posted on the Everyday.com.kh portal.

The report added that to the United Nations, no one could be above the law, and Peter Foster, the UN spokesman of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal [KRT], recently said, "It was up to the KRT judges and prosecutors to decide who should be indicted and who should be summoned as witness."

The report also said that in light of Peter Foster's remarks, the "former king could be invited to the KRT as witness, because he used to be the head of state of the Democratic Kampuchea [DK] regime, before deciding to resign from that position in 1976. Despite the reaction from the king father [Norodom Sihanouk] and from other Cambodian leaders, the United Nations was still adamant that the indictment or summons of witnesses was up to the KRT judges."

The report further said that a letter dated 6 September 2007 sent to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Royal Palace, Mrs. Michelle Lee, deputy head of the KRT administration office, "continued to maintain that only the tribunal judges were competent to decide who should be the witnesses."

The report added that although the letter said "Peter Foster did not intend to affect the reputation of the great heroic king, Mrs. Michelle Lee did not guarantee that the king father would be neither indicted nor summoned to appear in the KRT."

The report said that Lao Mong Hay, former president of the Cambodian Institute for Democracy and a jurist currently in Hong Kong, wrote a controversial article entitled "No Immunity for Sihanouk." In the article he said, "A lot of Cambodian people still believe that Samdech Sihanouk was the instrument for the KR Victory. Therefore, he should be responsible for the suffering of the Cambodian people in the KR regime."

"Therefore," Lao Mong Hay added, "recently the KRT should be neither intimidated nor threatened by the Cambodian Government. This tribunal should preserve its independence. It should persistently withstand the immunity of Samdech Sihanouk and summon him to appear in the law court whenever the truth, justice and/or human rights require it to do so."

The report also said that Lao Mong Hay used strong words saying, "Samdech Sihanouk's immunity from the trial is illegal, does not conform to the Constitution, and cannot be protected. The use of immunity by Samdech Sihanouk himself or with the support from the government to shun the tribunal will only reinforce/strengthen the belief that he was part of the responsibilities for the suffering of the Cambodian people under the KR regime."

Lao Mong Hay added, "It is an obstruction of justice and destruction of the rights of the Cambodian people, who have already endured enough suffering. It will also prevent Cambodia from settling its past story through the court of justice."

"Nonetheless," the report added, "Cambodian leaders are resolutely against any efforts or intentions to bring the king father to the KRT. Political parties, including the Cambodian People's Party, the FUNCINPEC [National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia] Party, the Norodom Ranariddh Party, and some other parties as well as the Senate, the National Assembly, and the Royal Government led by with Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, too, condemn the idea of wanting to have the ex-king, who is sacred to the Cambodian people, tried at the KRT."

To Cambodia, the report added, the trial of the king father was to "set all the Cambodian people's heart on roaring fire." Prime Minister Hun Sen said, "We cannot remain with our hands folded. We must destroy such an intention."

Moreover, recently Khieu Kanhnharit, information minister and government spokesman, too, warned, "Cambodia would terminate the KRT if they still nurtured the intention of bringing the king father to the KRT," the report pointed out.

As for the king father, the report said, he, too, "refused to appear in the KRT as witness." He "indirectly invited Peter Foster and other UN officials to a meeting with him in the Royal Palace scheduled for 8 September to discuss the questions regarding the KR and himself."

However, the report added, UN officials and judges "did not to and see the ex-king as scheduled, partly because the letter of invitation had not been sent to the KRT officially."

To this point, the report further said, there was "fear about a deadlock in the KRT. What would happen if the UN judges still had the intent to invite the king father to the KRT and Cambodia resolutely objected to it?"

"Will the United Nations be still imbued with the idea of inviting the king father to the law court despite Cambodia's objection? The great heroic king will become a test for the cooperation between Cambodia and the United Nations," the report concluded.

Sam Rainsy supports King-Father if he decides to present himself at the KRT, or if he decides not to go the KRT

Thursday, September 13, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy displayed his position for the first time regarding the fact that the KR Tribunal demanded that former monarch Norodom Sihanouk showed up as a court witness. Following a long period of silence, Sam Rainsy informed about his position to a group of reporters at the National Assembly on Wednesday morning. He indicated that he supports King-Father’s decision regarding the KR Tribunal (KRT) issue. By this, Sam Rainsy meant that if King-Father decides to present himself at the KRT, he will support this decision, however, if King-Father decides not to show up in court, he will also support this decision. Sam Rainsy indicated that the KRT is progressing forward, and regarding the issue between King-Father and the KRT, he will follow the decision taken by King-Father. Sam Rainsy said that his party has two MPs who are chairmen of the National Assembly committees, Son Chhay and Yim Sovann, therefore these two MPs could provide the party’s position at the National Assembly.

Transcript of Milton Osborne's interview on King-Father's refusal to testity at the KRT

Former king refuses to testify at Khmer Rouge trials

12/09/2007
Radio Australia
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Click here to listen to the interview

Cambodia's former king says he'll refuse to testify at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal and has requested a meeting with officials on his conduct under the rule of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979.

Presenter - Sen Lam Speaker - Milton Osborne, visiting fellow, Lowy Institute, Sydney

OSBORNE: I don't think it will have any significant impact. He's still an important figure because of his historical importance, but he has very little political impact in the present day.

LAM: And of course King Sihanouk, the former king, there were reports implicating him I suppose during the rule of Khmer Rouge that he collaborated. What do we know about Norodom Sihanouk's role during the years of the Killing Fields because I understand that he stayed in Cambodia during all that time?

OSBORNE: Well, not quite all that time. In fact, after the victory of the Khmer Rouge in April 1975, it wasn't until the latter part of the year, around September, that he actually returned to live in Phnom Penh. And although initially he was given the honorific title of chief of state, that was taken away from him fairly early on in 1976. And I think it's correct to say, and fair to say, that during the entire time he was living in Cambodia, in Phnom Penh, during the Khmer Rouge rule, he was effectively under house arrest.

LAM: He did, however, led a relatively comfortable life.

OSBORNE: Oh, yes, yes he did. He lived in air conditioned circumstances. He was allowed interestingly enough to listen to international radio, to shortwave radio, and he was given priority treatment in terms of the sort of food he was allowed to eat.

LAM: Indeed, and yet there were times when he feared for his life, but in the end, the Khmer Rouge left him alone. Why do you think that was so?

OSBORNE: No one is absolutely sure. One possibility is that against all of their other brutal actions during that period they did think that it was important to keep him as some sort of bargaining chip for the future if things went wrong. Probably, and we can't be certain of this because there's no documentation, but probably he was also allowed to remain in the position he held there as a prisoner under house arrest because the Chinese government, which had very considerable influence over the Khmer Rouge rulership, they didn't want him to be harmed.

LAM: And Milton Osborne, there were allegations questioning Sihanouk's allegiances at the time of the Khmer Rouge regime. Did he play an active role? I mean, surely he wasn't totally oblivious to what was happening around him. So do you think he was really more guilty of inaction, of not speaking out?

OSBORNE: I don't think he was in a position after 1975 and while he was under house arrest effectively in Phnom Penh to speak out. I think he had good reasons to be fearful about his life. Some of his close associates were taken away and presumably killed. We don't have all of the details of that. But I don't think he really was in a position to make his concerns public.

LAM: Well, Norodom Sihanouk himself lost five children I understand during that time.

OSBORNE: Well, he lost 14 relatives in addition to children directly of his own.

LAM: Right, at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. And yet he has criticised the UN backed tribunal in the past. What do you think are his misgivings about these trials?

OSBORNE: I think the misgivings so far, as his own personal position is concerned, is that he sees no reason why he should have to be brought before the tribunal. He has said in various earlier communications that he relies on the immunity he was granted under the 1993 Cambodian constitution, and he sees no reason why he should shed that immunity. And I believe his own Armour propre is engaged that he feels that as a former king, he should not be called before a tribunal established by the United Nations.

Milton Osborne on King-Father: "...he has very little political impact in the present day"

No Khmer Rouge tribunal appearance for former king

12/09/2007
Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Cambodia's former king says he will refuse to testify at the UN-backed Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal.

Norodom Sihanouk had requested a meeting with officials on his conduct under the rule of the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979.

The 84-year-old former king said his request was denied by the tribunal officials, who said they were not authorised to meet with him.

Dr Milton Osborne, an Australian analyst who wrote a biography on the former king, has told Radio Australia's Connect Asia program Norodom Sihanouk's refusal will have little impact on the tribunal's authority.

"I don't think it will have any significant impact. He's still an important figure because of his historical importance, but he has very little political impact in the present day."

The "Killing Fields"

As many as two-million people died of starvation or were killed during the rule of the Khmer Rouge, commonly known as "the killing fields."

Dr Osborne says the former King had a complicated relationship with the Khmer Rouge, initially appointing him honorary chief of state before taking the title away in 1976.

"I think it's fair to say during the entire time he was living in Cambodia...during the Khmer Rouge rule, he was effectively under house arrest."

Personal impact

Norodom Sihanouk lost 14 relatives, as well as five of his own children, to the regime.

However, he has remained critical of the UN-backed tribunal which will try some of those who led the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979.

Dr Osborne says the former king sees no reason for him to be brought the tribunal, and he relies on the immunity he was granted under the 1993 Cambodian constitution.

"He feels that as a former king, he should not be called before a tribunal established by the United Nations."

King-Father: KR Tribunal made him lose an opportunity

Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

Former monarch Norodom Sihanouk said on Monday that the KR Tribunal (KRT) lost a unique opportunity for him to clarify about his situation during the Khmer Rouge Democratic Kampuchea regime. In his website, King-Father said that he proposed to KRT officials to come and meet him last Saturday, but the KRT officials rejected his invitation because Peter Foster, UN ECCC spokesman, did not receive the authorization to meet him. King-Father added that the meeting which was planned for last Saturday, was the unique opportunity for the KRT to receive his clarifications regarding the “Khmer Rouge and Sihanouk Affair.” At the beginning of September (in fact, it was at the end of August), a US-based NGO requested the National Assembly to revoke King-Father’s immunity so that he can be called in by the KRT, but this request met with severe criticisms from the government, the Senate, the National Assembly, and by major political parties.

Political Cartoon: A Coward & A Buffalo

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Note: We apologize to Cartoonist Sacrava for taking the liberty to split his cartoon into 2 parts for better display.