2 His Majesty’s Birthday

Our Warmest Congratulations To Samdech Ta Norodom Sihanouk,

Father of Independence, On the Occasion of His 84th Birthday

Our Sincerest Congratulation To His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni,

On His Royal Coronation

From The Management & Staff of:

313 Sisowath Quay, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia. Tel: 855-23 426 288, Fax: 855-23 426 392, E-mail: luxury@hotelcambodiana.com.kh

Managed by Orchid Hotels & Resorts

HOPE worldwide staffs and manages the Sihanouk Hospital Center of HOPE inPhnom Penh. Our goal is to provide a center for the further education and trainingof medical professionals while delivering 24 hour high quality free care for the poorand needy. The hospital has provided over 740,000 patient consultations in the tenyears since its inception. We are grateful for the support given by you to help thehealth needs of those less fortunate.

Our Best Birthday Wishes for Good Health and Happiness to

Samdach Ta Norodom Sihanouk

3A Special Supplement to The CAMBODIA DAILY

By Michelle Vachon

Long before today’s media-blitz election campaigns andphotogenic presidents, the

leader of a small Southeast Asiannation was capturing far more thanhis fair share of international mediaattention.

Retired King Norodom Siha-nouk, who is celebrating his 84thbirthday today, embarked on hisfirst press campaign more than halfa century ago.

In the decades since, the retiredKing has grown adept at using themedia to reach the public and influ-ence politics in Cambodia andabroad.

Well-informed on what themedia is saying on any and allCambodian issues, Norodom Siha-nouk swiftly responds, these daysmostly in writing.

Receiving faxes of newspaperpages with handwritten commentsin the margins from NorodomSihanouk are a regular occurrencetoday at newspaper offices.

As journalists who have hadtheir word choice or phrasing in astory scrutinized can attest, theretired King’s open comments,which can be harshly critical orsometimes playfully congratulato-ry, create between him and thepress a very direct relationship.

Unlike modern-day political lead-ers whose media relations consistof official spokespeople issuingpress releases and official commu-niques, Norodom Sihanouk’s deal-ings with the press have been and

still are very involved. “His Majesty had a lot of time for

the press: He built strong, long-last-ing relationships with ‘journos’ likeBernie Krisher, Nayan Chanda,William Shawcross, Jean La-couture and others,” said JulioJeldres, the retired King’s officialbiographer.

“His 5-hour long press confer-ences in Peking, Pyongyang or inPhnom Penh before the 18 March[coup ousting him in 1970] werelegendary,” Jeldres said.

In this regard, Norodom Siha-nouk was ahead of his time, saidAlain Daniel, who served as theretired King’s private secretary inthe late 1960s as part of an agree-ment with the French government.

“At the time, it was not custom-ary [for political leaders] to pay somuch attention to the press and tothe international press,” he said.

“[Norodom Sihanouk] recog-nized before many others the fun-damental importance of what todaywe call ‘image’. Now there aremedia consultants with the techni-cal expertise to create an image fora certain kind of product—thereare techniques used to launchproducts. He had realized beforeanyone else that a country was alsoin a way a product, and that theimage Cambodia projected abroadwas something vital,” Daniel said.

Cambodia often attracted atten-tion because of its messenger, asformer New York Times corre-spondent Henry Kamm mentionsin his 1998 book “Cambodia,Report from a Stricken Land.”

Recalling his first meeting withNorodom Sihanouk at a pressluncheon in 1964, Kamm wrote: “Iasked one or two [questions], notbecause of a deep interest in Cam-bodia, terra incognita to me, butbecause I had found its chief ofstate a national leader unlike any Ihad ever met.”

During that informal talk, Kammrecalls, “He blurted out with disre-gard for conventional hypocrisytruths that statesmen are supposedto keep for themselves.... More-over, he dwelt on his country’sweakness rather than praising pre-tended strength.”

Eleven years earlier, NorodomSihanouk had turned to the mediain his quest for Cambodia’s inde-pendence from France.

After a visit to Paris in 1953where his request had not beentaken seriously, he later pleadedhis cause in a Radio-Canada inter-view in Montreal, and in a NewYork Times interview in Washing-ton, DC.

Soon thereafter, those interviewsprompted a Washington Post edito-rial in support of NorodomSihanouk’s cause, writes MiltonOsborne in his 1994 book “Siha-nouk, Prince of Light, Prince ofDarkness.”

The 30-year-old King was “al-ready aware of the power of theWestern press to affect govern-mental opinion,” Osborne writes.And shortly after those interviews,France invited Norodom Siha-nouk’s representatives in Paris todiscuss independence.

Over the years, media coveragewould not always be so favorable,and Norodom Sihanouk wouldnever take criticism lightly.

In April, he threatened to suePhnom Penh’s French-language

monthly magazine L’Echo duCambodge for reprinting excerptsfrom a negative review of one of hisfeature films that was first pub-lished in 1971 in the French dailyLe Monde.

The 1969 film “Ombres surAngkor” had been about an allegedplot by the US Central IntelligenceAgency to topple NorodomSihanouk.

L’Echo du Cambodge immedi-ately apologized, and the retiredKing did not pursue legal action.

“His Majesty’s relations with thepress were sometimes tense be-cause he used to reply to every arti-cle that was presented to him andthat he felt did not convey an accu-rate picture of Cambodia or of hisown actions and policies,” Jeldressaid.

“Sometimes the newspapers towhich His Majesty wrote did notpublish his responses, and this cre-ated some tension in the relation-ship, which was otherwise veryhealthy,” he added.

In the mid-1960s, Norodom Siha-nouk’s relations with the foreignand national media deteriorated.

“On 11 September 1967, [then]Prince Sihanouk decreed the sup-pression of all newspapers appear-ing in Cambodia and their replace-ment with four daily newspapers inKhmer, French, Chinese andVietnamese languages put underthe control of the Ministry ofInformation,” wrote the lateCharles Meyer in his 1971 book“Derriere le sourire khmer,” or“Behind the Khmer Smile.”

Moreover, with the exception ofa few journalists known to print offi-cial statements without comment,Norodom Sihanouk closed Cam-bodia’s doors to the foreign press,

THE MEDIA-CONSCIOUS MONARCHA Master At Crafting His—And His Nation’s—Public Image

Continued on page 14

Cover: A framed photo of retired King Norodom Sihanouk andQueen Monineath displayed in the Royal PalaceTop Right: In this 1967 television interview, Norodom Sihanoukalleges that China is trying to impose communism in CambodiaPhoto: Courtesy of Cambodian Audiovisual Resource Center/French National Audiovisual Institute

Bottom Left: Norodom Sihanouk talks to journalists after a 1981meeting with French diplomats in Paris about the difficulties of apeace settlement for CambodiaPhoto: Courtesy of Cambodian Audiovisual Resource Center/French National Audiovisual Institute

OCTOBER 31, 2006

4 His Majesty’s Birthday

The management and staff ofNagacorp & Ariston Sdn Bhd

extend their best wishes for long life,good health and happiness

to His MajestyNorodom Sihanouk

on the occasion of His 84th Birthday

Level 5, North Tower, Naga World, Hun Sen Park, Phnom Penh, Kingdom of CambodiaP.O. Box 1099, Phnom Penh. Tel: + 855-23-723986 Fax: + 855-23-426627

5

By Erika KinetzAnd Kay Kimsong

Along, dreamy epoch of Technicolor peas-ants, Mercedes sedans, pastoral NorthKorean lakes, and a beautiful queen came

to an end in late September: “My cinema, it isdead,” retired King Norodom Sihanouk wrote ina letter from Beijing that was posted on his Website.

Norodom Sihanouk has, of course, said thisbefore and he may well say it again. While theretired King’s filmmaking career, which spansfour decades, may or may not be dead, for themoment, the distribution of his films is. In thatsame missive from Beijing, he asked state-runTVK to stop broadcasting his films, a request thestation has said it would honor.

And so begins the afterlife of the retired King’sfilms. He has written and directed dozens of films,many of which he also scored. He often cast him-self, family members and public dignitaries instarring roles. Norodom Sihanouk has writtenthat he made the films with fervor and love for hishomeland and his people, but these days, it’squite difficult to find them in Cambodia. After heretired in 2004, Norodom Sihanouk moved hispersonal film archive to the Ecole Francaised’Extreme-Orient in Paris and to MonashUniversity in Melbourne, Australia.

The films were never meant to be for sale, yetlike many things in Cambodia, they are anyway.The few copies that do circulate in marketsaround Phnom Penh have been pirated from for-eign diplomats who received them as gifts, orfrom members of the Royal Family, according toYou Sokunthy, whose DVD stall at Phsar TuolTumpoung is one of the few places that you canfind them. Today, the films, most of which werecreated for Khmer audiences, are perhaps mostardently pursued by curio-seeking tourists.

The tourist market, some say, is where culturegoes to die. This shift has ripped the Royal filmsfrom their original context, and the resulting dis-sonance, to foreign eyes, is either incomprehensi-ble or, more often than not, funny.

“People laugh,” said Ly Daravuth, the directorof the Reyum Institute. “They say how kitsch.[Norodom] Sihanouk does not care. He is inanother artistic tradition.”

Understood as statecraft, the films offer a fan-tastical counterpart to Cambodia’s bleak modernhistory. And they are, perhaps, one part of thedream-life of Norodom Sihanouk, a record ofhow he wanted to see his nation, how he enter-tained himself, and how he sought to relate to hispeople.

“I think the King Father’s films are messages tohis beloved children and his people,” said PrinceSisowath Kola Chat, secretary of state for theMinistry of Culture. “The films will be a usefuldocumentary for the future.”

You Sokunthy, 35, who has been selling DVDssince 1992, has captured the niche market for theretired King’s films. She said she likes the filmsbecause they are emanations of Khmer culture.“The dress and the action show the identity of theKhmer people,” she said. Her grandmother lovedthem.

“The old generation really liked the King’smovies,” she said. “When they played on TV, theywatched with their mouths open, without blink-ing their eyes.”

Tastes have changed. Most Cambodians whocome to her shop buy cartoons for their children,with the hope that “Aladdin,” “The Lion King,”and “Cinderella” might teach them someEnglish. Cambodian teenagers, she said, preferSamurai movies, Korean films, ghost stories, andmartial arts movies.

It is tourists who make her dig deep into theback of her cabinets, searching for evidence ofthe retired King’s cinema. She sells 20 to 30copies of his movies each month. They cost $4each, twice the price of “The Killing Fields” andRithy Panh’s “S21, The Khmer Rouge KillingMachine,” which fly off her shelves by the hun-dreds.

Part of the issue is what Ly Daravuth, calls“deferred modernity.” The French had their NewWave, and the Americans had the actor andimprovisational director John Cassavettes.Cambodia, meanwhile, had war.

“Here you are only starting to have Cubism,”Ly Daravuth said.

Norodom Sihanouk’s films, then, belong to anolder order. He first began experimenting with

filmmaking in the 1940s, and in 1966 made hisfirst feature film, “Apsara.”

“[Norodom] Sihanouk was having a discourseof building an independent, proud nation,” saidLy Daravuth. Part of that proud nation turned outto be a cadre of filmmakers—Roeum Sophonand Ieu Pannakar among them—who grew uparound Norodom Sihanouk, according to “Cul-tures of Independence,” a book on Cambodianarts and culture published by Reyum.

“The culture was a tool for him,” said LyDaravuth. “There is always a link between artand state ideology.”

According to the Reyum book, the other majorschool of Cambodian filmmakers at the time wasfunded and trained by the US government, whichduring the Cold War maintained an ambitiousprogram of cultural diplomacy. The US Inform-ation Service shot documentaries in Cambodia inthe 1950s and sent mobile “cinecars” through thecountryside, projecting films that showed thewholesome American way.

USIS trained Cambodians to make Khmer-lan-guage films for these village screenings. Sun BunLy, a policeman who went on to form Cambodia’sfirst independent, commercial film productioncompany, Neak Poan Productions, was amongthem. So was Nhek Dim, who USIS sent in theearly 1960s to the Walt Disney studios to learncartooning.

Norodom Sihanouk founded Cambodia’s firstinternational film festival in 1968; that year and thenext, his films won the grand prize—a pure goldstatue of an Apsara dancer. In 1997, theInternational Film Festival of Moscow honoredhim with a special jury prize.

In general, however, his filmmaking effortshave been met with limited international criticalacclaim. And aesthetics alone may not offer theright lens for judgement.

“If you ask me to look at the films from a pure-ly art critic perspective, it would be a difficult read-ing,” Ly Daravuth said. “But I’ve only looked atthem as historical films.”

The retired King has said that he never intend-ed his films to be commercial undertakings.

In 1997, he told the International Film Festivalof Moscow that the budgets for his films rangedfrom $20,000 to $70,000 and were financed by theCambodian government. They were to be of thepeople and for the people, with free screeningsand regular broadcasts on state TV. Even today,Prince Sisowath Kola Chat said copies of the filmswould be provided free of charge to anyone whoneeds them.

WATCHING BETWEEN THE FRAMES

Continued on page 14

The Retired King’s Films May Be More Message Than Medium

Top Left: The opening of Kompong Champrovince’s Preah Sihamoni Theater featuring Norodom Sihanouk’s film “The Little Prince” on July 20, 1968Photo: Courtesy of the Reyum Institute

Top Center: Norodom Sihanouk greets anenthusiastic spectator at the premiere ofhis film “The Little Prince” on July 6,1968. The photo appeared in Kambujamagazine on August 15, 1968Photo: Courtesy of the National Library of Cambodia

Top Right: Norodom Sihanouk during theshooting of his film “Angkor in Darkness,” produced in 1967Photo: Courtesy of the Reyum Institute

OCTOBER 31, 2006

6 His Majesty’s Birthday

By Erik WassonAnd Prak Chan Thul

He looked familiar. I was eating pork andginger with white rice at Phnom Penh’sLucky Bright Restaurant and realized that

I had seen the violin player before. Then it hit me:Huot Thea is in King Father Norodom Siha-nouk’s band.

“It has been good for my career,” the 41-year-old violinist said after one of his regular perform-ances at Lucky Bright.

People, he says, often recognize him from hisperformances with the King Father.

Cambodia’s multi-talented retired King isknown not only as a prolific filmmaker but also asan energetic singer and talented songwriter.

Norodom Sihanouk’s legendary palacesoirees have always included him singing livebefore diplomats and dignitaries, featuring suchWestern classics as “Feelings” and “Lambada,”as well as much-loved songs by Cambodia’s lateSin Sisamuth.

Sin Sisamuth’s “Sekong,” “Why Do You CryWhen I Sing?” and “Last Year,” are still wildly pop-ular among young and old Cambodians and areincluded in the retired King’s repertoire.

Norodom Sihanouk’s band often includes hishalf-brother Prince Norodom Sirivuddh on guitarand Minister of Culture Prince Sisowath PanaraSirivuddh on saxophone.

When a violin is required, as it often is, HuotThea is called for.

“My father played for the King and I haveknown him since I was a boy. I work at theMinistry of Culture also so when they need me,they contact me there,” Huot Thea says, addingthat he is also a dab hand at the maracas.

“We played together for a meeting of provincialgovernors in September, before the King Fatherleft for Beijing,” Huot Thea says.

Norodom Sihanouk has been singing publiclyat the palace in Phnom Penh on occasion sincethe early 1990s following the country’s turn to

democracy and his return from exile in China.Huot Thea says he has performed with theretired king countless times since then.

“With the King Father I learned a lot of newsongs especially in French and Spanish that Inever would have had a chance to learn,” he says.

Sometimes the band’s practice sessions can goon for a very long time, Huot Thea says, becauseNorodom Sihanouk is a perfectionist and has theenergy of a much younger man.

“I have never seen a person that age that cansing that much and remember that much,” hesaid. “When we played for diplomats, it went onuntil four in the morning. I went to the toilet twoor three times, but the King Father never stoppedto take a break.”

US Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli, who hasattended some of the retired King’s performanc-es, said of the singing: “I wish I had had as muchstamina at 24 as the King Father still has at 84.”

Huot Thea said of all the songs the retired Kingsings, his personal favorite is “Monique,” which isabout the King Father’s love for the Queen.

Most nights, however, Huot Thea can be foundleading his Lucky Bright Band at Lucky Brightrestaurant on Norodom Boulevard, where heplays for a clientele of largely well-to-do Cambo-dians and government officials.

But Huot Thea has also entertained some verydifferent customers.

A master of the traditional Khmer two-stringedinstrument called the tro, Huot Thea as a teenag-er was conscripted to play for Khmer Rouge sol-diers during the 1975-1979 DemocraticKampuchea regime.

“During the Khmer Rouge regime, I alsoplayed.... I was still young so I never thoughtabout politics. I would play when they camped atthe pagoda,” he said. “That is life—you have toadjust to the new regime.”

But those days are long gone, Huot Thea said.Life is better playing with the retired King.

THE CAMBODIA DAILY

BACKING THE ROYAL BALLADEERHis Majesty Norodom Sihanouk’s Violinist Is a King Among FiddlersH

eng

Chi

voan

The retired Kingsings backed byHuot Thea in thisimage taken froma video of theperformance

7A Special Supplement to The CAMBODIA DAILY

Tachibana, publishers of the best sellinginspirational books by Toshu Fukami, wish Your Majesty Norodom Sihanouk

a joyous 84th birthday and many, many more

TACHIBANA PUBLISHING INC.Books that shape the world

3-42-19 Nishiogi-kita, Suginami-ku, Tokyo

Tel: +81-3-5310-2131

Fax: +81-3-3397-9295

By Douglas Gillison

Five hundred and ninety-sevendays into his retirement, for-mer King Norodom Sihanouk

landed at Phnom Penh InternationalAirport in the afternoon of May 26.

After a 16-month absence, theretired King was greeted by morethan 100 government officials, for-eign diplomats, and Prime MinisterHun Sen.

The 83-year-old ex-monarch, aseminal figure in the history ofCambodia, waved to reporters butsaid nothing before stepping into acar with the Queen Mother, Noro-dom Monineath, and driving off.

“He would like to have come backa long time ago but he did not feelOK to return because some peoplecriticized him,” Prince NorodomYouvaneath, one of the retiredKing’s sons, told reporters at the air-port.

In statements made during themonths prior to his return, Noro-dom Sihanouk said alternately thatfear of political upheaval and also hisfailing health had prevented himfrom returning home.

In January, however, he said hiselongated absence was in fact due tothe painful memory of anti-Siha-noukist propaganda, broadcast theprevious October on Cambodian tel-

evision stations at the request ofHun Sen.

Frustrated that King NorodomSihamoni was unavailable to sign offon a controversial new border treatywith Vietnam, Hun Sen ordered TVand radio stations to play Lon Nol-era songs that accused Sihanouk ofceding land to Cambodia’s largerneighbor.

“The fact that the new generationpublicized the song made me...[remember] the abasement againstme,” Norodom Sihanouk wrote in amessage posted to his Web site atthe time.

However, seven days after hisreturn in May, Norodom Sihanouk,during a banquet at the Royal Palacein Phnom Penh, described theprime minister as his own son and a“new hero of Cambodia.”

“King Norodom Sihamoni and Iboth support Samdech Hun Sen tolead the country for the whole of hislife,” the retired monarch said at thegathering, during which he sang 21songs, plus one requested by HunSen.

It appears to be the closest Noro-dom Sihanouk has been to Hun Senand the ruling CPP in the past 13years since UNTAC, said KoulPanha, executive director of theCommittee for Free and Fair

Elections in Cambodia.“He knows that the CPP is the

major party with a critical role in sta-bilizing the country and guarantee-ing the existence of the monarchy,”he said.

National stability and the survivalof the Cambodian monarchy are thetwo overriding preoccupations ofNorodom Sihanouk, though his life-long interest in national politics isalso evident.

Kek Galabru, president of localrights group Licadho, said the for-mer King remains very much inter-ested, if not directly implicated inpolitics.

“I think he’s still involved in poli-tics in the larger sense of the term,”she said.

“He is aware of the situation ofCambodia, he follows the situation,he is informed. But I don’t think hewants to come back to politics.”

And for those who think theretired King may still somehow beengaged in politics, Norodom Siha-nouk has continued the steadydrumbeat of disclaimers.

“His Majesty King-Father Noro-dom Sihanouk has repeatedly statedon countless occasions that He onlywishes to live in peace and stay outof politics,” the former King’s cabi-net reiterated in April.

In the year since his last birthday,Norodom Sihanouk has witnessedboth the decline and the emergenceof parties that trade in the symbolsof his long political career.

Among the casualties were doz-ens of Funcinpec members whowere fired by Hun Sen, and PrinceNorodom Sirivudh, who was re-moved as co-Interior Minister.Under fierce verbal attack from theCPP, Prince Norodom Ranariddhquit as National Assembly presidentand was then forced out as presidentof Funcinpec.

As the week of Ranariddh’s ousterended, the former King had not yetresponded to a letter informing himof Keo Puth Rasmey’s installation asFuncinpec president, said NouvSovathero, the party’s newly ap-pointed spokesman.

Nouv Sovathero therefore de-clined to speculate on what Noro-dom Sihanouk’s relations would bewith a post-Ranariddh Funcinpec. Inan Oct 20 letter to Prince Ranariddh,the former King described thechanges to Funcinpec as an “unfore-seen Tragedy.”

Funcinpec will remain a firmlyroyalist party, said Nouv Sovathero,noting that Keo Puth Rasmey ismarried to Princess Norodom ArunRasmey, retired King Sihanouk’s

youngest daughter.The former King has saved his

strongest criticism for his nephewPrince Sisowath Thomico, who, tooppose Hun Sen and the CPP, hasformed the recently launched Sang-kum Jatiniyum Front Party.

Norodom Sihanouk has ridiculedevery aspect of the party, from itsfinances to its proposed ideology,even at one point discussing PrinceThomico’s marital status.

“[T]he terrible blows that Tho-mico has taken too great a pleasurein dealing me under the pretextstruggling against our Great Leaderare endured by me with a certainstoicism,” the former King wrote inSeptember.

In an interview, Prince Thomicosaid he would not directly discussthe King-Father’s apparent disap-proval of the SJF.

“I am reminded of the phrase ofBuddha, ‘Everything is illusion.Even illusion is illusion,’” PrinceThomico said.

“You have to be very careful be-cause sometimes the reality behindthings may not be what you see,” hesaid.

The King-Father’s unique ges-tures towards the different politicalparties in Cambodia are an attemptto diffuse the many competing ten-

sions, he said.“I think that you cannot under-

stand the stance of King Sihanouk ifyou do not have in mind what ismost important to him: Peace andstability,” Prince Thomico said.

“It means that whenever he feelsthat peace and stability are at stake,he will take a softer stance towardthe CPP, just to cool and smooththings down.”

As an example, Prince Thomicopointed out that in September, afterboth he and Prince Ranariddh calledfor the King-Father to return to poli-tics, the former King reacted imme-diately.

“It is not and never will it be aquestion for me whether to acceptthe post of prime minister...or anoth-er post or assignment that forces meto leave my retirement,” he wrote ina Sept 15 communique marked“very urgent.”

Nevertheless, two days later, HunSen gave an angry speech broad-cast on radio and television in whichhe denounced Princes Ranariddhand Thomico for sedition.

This is just the sort of thing theformer King is seeking to avoid byemploying his idiosyncratic ap-proach to each party, Prince Tho-mico said.

THE CAMBODIA DAILY

A LION IN WINTER?—ROYAL YEAR IN REVIEW

Hen

g C

hivo

an

The retired King greeting well-wishers at Phnom Penh

International Airport May 26

OCTOBER 31, 2006

Sinsuke Yamada, President

Otsuka Shoe Co., Ltd.

23-4, Shimbashi 4-Chome

Minato-ku, Tokyo

(105-0004) Japan

I would like to join all thepeople of Cambodia and of theworld to wish your Majesty a veryhappy 84th birthday.

You are the glue and unifyingforce which holds your nationtogether. May you continue toenjoy a long and healthy life toassure Cambodia’s good fortuneand prosperity.

10 His Majesty’s Birthday

Long Live Samdach Ta

Norodom Sihanouk

Good Health and Happiness

always on the Occasion

of His Majesty's 84th Birthday

From the Management & StaffSunway Hotel Phnom Penh

Long Live Samdach TaNorodom Sihanouk

Good Health and Happinessalways on the Occasion of

His Majesty's 84th Birthday

Nº 111 Norodom Blvd.Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Tel: (855) 23-217617, Fax: (855) 23-217618E-mail: info@monument-books.com

By James Welsh

The last 12 months have been a turbulenttime for Cambodia’s royal family. InOctober 2005, Prime Minister Hun Sen

threatened to abolish the monarchy if KingNorodom Sihamoni failed to sign off on a contro-versial supplemental border agreement withVietnam. And earlier this month, retired KingNorodom Sihanouk warned that a request byPrince Sisowath Thomico that he return and runthe county could also spell disaster. In a messageposted on his Web site, Norodom Sihanouk saidan unidentified “CPP personality” had told himthat such calls could bring the monarchy to aclose.

It is perhaps little wonder then that JulioJeldres, official biographer of retired KingNorodom Sihanouk, wrote in a recent e-mail thathe felt pessimistic about the institution’s future.

“The monarchy, I fear, has been treated withcontempt, threatened, used and abused by thepolitical elite for their own political ends, causingan irreparable disunity among the Royal Family,”Jeldres wrote.

One of the defining details of King NorodomSihamoni’s reign to date has been his decision toavoid Cambodia’s rough-and-tumble politicalscene.

For Kek Galabru, founder of local rights groupLicadho, this has been a wise move.

“Now [the people] start to respect and love thenew King because the new King Sihamoni hasno problems with politics—he’s not involved withpolitics at all,” Kek Galabru said. But while themonarchy appears stable under King Sihamoni,she added: “After King Sihamoni—I don’t know.”

Part of the monarchy’s appeal for the generalpublic, Kek Galabru said, is that the public associ-ates it with peace.

“When King Sihanouk was deposed, the wararrived. This is in the mind of Cambodian peo-ple,” she said.

Cambodia’s love for the monarchy—and morespecifically Norodom Sihanouk—continuedthrough the Khmer Rouge period and wasrewarded when he was once again appointed tothe throne in 1993 as Cambodia began its transi-tion from a communist state to a fledgling democ-racy, Kek Galabru said.

This love, she added, continues on today andinto the future through King Sihamoni.

“If one day the monarchy was to disappear, Ibelieve that Cambodians would lose a great deal,”said Alain Daniel, who served as NorodomSihanouk’s private secretary in the late 1960s aspart of an agreement with the French govern-ment.

Daniel said the idea of a monarchy can con-tribute permanence and security in a country, aswas recently seen after the bloodless militarycoup in Thailand.

“We now have the good fortune of having a

King who is a young man, cultivated, competent,an artist, very well-informed about Cambodianculture, and a man who has lived abroad longenough to know what a modern country is,” hesaid.

But Daniel also noted that the monarchy is in aperiod of transition.

Describing Norodom Sihanouk, he said: “Wehave at the head of Cambodia a truly exceptionalman who is a major public figure in world historyand who—whether or not he was King at differ-ent stages of his life—has always been consid-ered the sovereign by the majority of the popula-tion.”

But the world has changed since NorodomSihanouk first reigned in the 1950s and 1960s, hesaid. “Cambodians must redefine monarchyadapted to the world today—and this is perfectlydoable.”

For some observers, the key to the monar-chy’s survival will depend upon steering awayfrom politics and focusing on the role of nationalfigurehead and a symbol of stability.

Despite anti-royal rumblings from the CPP,political analyst Lao Mong Hay said the monar-chy is secure, and that the current governmentwill keep it in order to legitimize the CPP’s rule.

Even though the monarchy has been margin-alized for the moment, the government stillneeds it, he said.

“The Japanese shoguns needed the emperorsto legitimize their power, so does the Cambodianshogun [need] the King to legitimize and consol-idate his power,” Lao Mong Hay said.

Government spokesman and CPP Informa-tion Minister Khieu Kanharith said that Hun Senrespects the King and the government has pro-

tected the achievements of the Sangkum ReastrNiyum.

For some, King Sihamoni’s relatively low-pro-file reign is part of an ongoing redefinition of whatthe Cambodian monarchy is all about.

“[King Sihamoni] is in the process of redefin-ing what Cambodian monarchy should be,”Daniel said. “He is doing this with finesse, pro-gressively—Cambodian style—quietly and with-out upheaval.” (Additional reporting by MichelleVachon and Yun Samean)

THE CAMBODIA DAILY

THE FUTURE OF THE MONARCHY

Hen

g C

hivo

anH

eng

Chi

voan

Queen Norodom Monineathwith her sons, future King

Norodom Sihamoni, right, andPrince Norodom Norindrapong

in this photo from the RoyalPalace archives

NorodomSihanouk pourswater over KingNorodomSihamoni at his 2004 coronationceremonies

The royal familygreets well-wishers

at Phnom PenhInternational Airport

in 2004

OCTOBER 31, 2006

13A Special Supplement to The CAMBODIA DAILY

I Extend My Heartiest Wishes to

Your MajestyNorodom Sihanouk

on Your 84th Birthday

HARUHISA HANDAChancellor

UNIVERSITY of CAMBODIA#143-145, Preah Norodom Blvd.

Phnom Penh, CambodiaTel: +855-23-993274 Fax: +855-23-993275

www.uc.edu.kh

14 His Majesty’s Birthday

accusing it of systematically puttingdown his regime, wrote Meyer,who was Norodom Sihanouk’spolitical adviser in the 1960s.

The retired King, however, kepta written correspondence with themedia worldwide; he graciouslyanswered all questions, and sentlong telegrams with either warmthanks for favorable stories or cor-rections and even indignant denialsfor negative ones, Meyer wrote.

“[Norodom Sihanouk] paid a lotof attention to what the press wroteabout Cambodia because he feltthat, in a way, the honor and digni-ty of Cambodians were being tar-nished if the article was unreason-ably critical,” Jeldres said.

Norodom Sihanouk apparentlyhas kept all these documents onfile—the news stories, good andbad, and the messages he sentafter their publication. He regularlyposts some of them on his Web siteor reprints them in his monthly bul-letin.

And, it would appear, he neverforgets any of them.

Among the messages he hasrecently issued in response toPrince Sisowath Thomico’s givinghis newly-formed political party aroyalist agenda, Norodom Siha-nouk resurrected this month a let-ter he had sent to the publicationIndochina Report in Singapore inApril 1987.

The lengthy letter—posted ininstallments on his Web site—wasin reply to a 1986 story written byPrince Thomico criticizing Noro-dom Sihanouk and his regime ofthe 1950s and 1960s.

As the publications he createddemonstrate, the retired King hasnot viewed the media solely as apolitical tool.

“Kambuja,” which he launchedin 1965, was a magazine-style, colorpublication with full-page photosand a mix of in-depth stories andlight features to inform and enter-tain the Cambodian public.

It appeared in English and inFrench, which many Cambodiansspoke at the time, Daniel said.

Its May 15, 1966 issue, for in-stance, included: an account of an

armed confrontation between Thaiand Cambodian military at PreahVihear temple; an interview withChinese President Mao Zedong byNorodom Sihanouk with a photo ofthe two heads of state; a feature onPrey Veng province; a businessstory on the pepper crop inKampot province, complete withcosts and expected yield over 5years; a poem by H H Doeung, aCambodian returning to the coun-try after a 10-year absence; wordsand music of a Norodom Sihanouksong; a story on basketball; andpolitical cartoons.

Among his other publicationswere “Le Sangkum,” an in-depthmonthly on politics and history,and the humorous publication“Phseng Phseng,” Daniel said.

Today the retired King’s mes-sages continue to draw publicattention to an array of issues.

In July 2005, in the margin of astory on Montagnard asylum seek-ers deported to Vietnam afterbeing refused refugee status by theUN, he wrote: “Our Buddhism andour Democracy should bring us togrant asylum to these unfortunateMontagnards.”

Earlier this month, he referredto the French documentary “Indi-genes,” which aired on the Frenchtelevision station TV5 in PhnomPenh, saying that the program on“natives” in the French army failedto mention Cambodians whofought for France in the two worldwars and received virtually nothingin return.

Most of these messages theretired King writes by hand him-self in French—the language helearned as a boy in then Indochinaand in which he wrote his books inthe 1970s.

“[Norodom Sihanouk] belong-ed to that generation of heads ofstate for whom style was impor-tant,” and who chiseled every sen-tence of their messages or speech-es, Daniel said.

“I believe that he has alwaysbeen interested in journalism andjournalists, not only because heconsidered [the press] an impor-tant lever in politics...but alsobecause this is a man who likes towrite” Daniel said.

“In my opinion, had he not been ahead of state, he would have had thequalities to be a great journalist.”

THE CAMBODIA DAILY

Depictions of an idealized Cam-bodian homeland are a recurringtheme.

“Shadow Over Angkor,” from thelate 1960s, tells the story of a foiledplot to topple the government. Itopens with Norodom Sihanouk,dressed in a white officer’s uniform,white shoes, and white gloves, onthe deck of a battle ship.

Then it quickly moves to a seriesof loving long shots, which showCambodia to be a nation of smoothroads, bustling ports, swimmingpools, world-class monuments,fresh-cut roses and a happy diplo-matic corps.

It is a splendid, air-tight vision,crafted even as his country teeteredon the brink of chaos.

The film premiered in Moscow in1969, the same year that the USbegan its secret bombings inCambodia.

Norodom Sihanouk’s scripts callfor good-looking commanding offi-cers and pretty civilian girls, luxurylimousines, pine forests at sunset,tragic love affairs, benevolent mon-archs, and meddling, wealthy impe-rialist powers.

Some have topical interest: Somepeople have taken his 1967 film,“The Little Prince,” which starredhis son and now-King NorodomSihamoni, as an early sign of hispreferences for succession. Earlierthis year, he produced a film inNorth Korea called “Reborn.” Thescript begins with a voiceover vener-

ating Kim Il Sung and his son KimJong Il, and then calls for shots of the“beautiful People’s DemocraticRepublic of Korea, which is fromevery point of view so admirable,and making formidable progress.”

One of his latest efforts, “Heart-rending Separation,” a short filmbased on the novel “Axelle” byPierre Benoit, which is scheduledfor production either late this year orearly next, tells the story of a wildand bloody battle between red“Kambu” soldiers and foreign in-vaders known as the “Vamnietians.”The script has been posted on theretired King’s Web site.

Some of his films are ripped fromthe headlines. Earlier this year, asreports emerged about the mistressof his son Prince Norodom Rana-riddh, Norodom Sihanouk filmed a12-minute sketch, “Who Does NotHave a Mistress?” The title wastaken from Funcinpec lawmakerPrincess Norodom Vacheara, whoasked the question in an interviewwhile arguing that extramaritalaffairs should not be used to perse-cute royalist officials.

Filmmaking is a habit the retiredKing seems hard-pressed to drop.In early October, he posted on hisWeb site a newspaper article whichtold of a strange and murderouslove triangle. The victim’s wife anddaughter, who shared a boyfriend,poisoned him with battery acid andthe wife then cut his penis off.

“I have stopped making films,”wrote the retired King. “But if I werestill ‘active’ as a filmmaker, I couldnever allow myself to show in a filmof N Sihanouk details that abase myrace and myself.” (Additional report-ing by Kuch Naren)

THE CAMBODIA DAILY

Watching...CONTINUED FROM

PAGE 5

Media...CONTINUED FROM

PAGE 3

Courtesy of the National Library of Cambodia Courtesy of the Audiovisual Resource Center/French National Audiovisual Institute

15-year-old then-PrinceNorodom Sihamoni

starring in his father’s1968 film "The Little

Prince"

At a 1967 Paris press conferenceNorodom Sihanouk says

Cambodians inside national borders have been killed in

US-Vietnamese warfare

#216B St. 63, Boeung Keng Kang 1, Phnom PenhTel: (855) 23 217 545 / 012 863 545

Fax: (855) 23 987 792 – PO Box: 972pyramid@online.com.kh – www.pyramid-e.com

Long Live Their Majesties

King Norodom Sihamoni and

King Father Norodom Sihanouk

With all the best wishes to Their Majesties form the Management and

Staff of the PYRAMID Co., Ltd., Translation Service

15A Special Supplement to The CAMBODIA DAILY

Embassy of the Czech Republic71/6 Ruam Rudee Soi 2, Ploenchit Rd., P.O. Box 522, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Tel: 662-2553027, Fax: 662-2537637, E-mail: bangkok@embassy.mzv.cz

The Embassy of the Czech Republicin the year of the 50th anniversary of the Czech - Cambodia diplomatic relations

submits its most loyal greetings and best wishes to

His Majesty Norodom SihanoukThe King Father

on the occassion of His Majesty’s Birthday

H.M. King Norodom Sihanouk with H.E. Jir í Sitler,Ambassador of the Czech Republic in 2002

H.R.H. Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the Head of State of Cambodia,decorated by the Order of the White Lion,

the highest Czechoslovak State Award in 1960

ON NORTH KOREA:

“The work of extremely heroic struggles fortotal and irreversible National Liberation, fornational Defense, National Education andJuche-Socialist Construction by His Ex-cellency the President-Marshal and GreatLeader KIM IL SUNG, and by his illustriousand beloved Son and most worthy SuccessorHis Excellency the Marshal-Great LeaderKIM JONG IL, is that of two true GIANTS ofuniversal HISTORY.”

- PYONGYANG, MARCH 3, 2006

ON THE PRESS:

“HE [Information Minister] Mr. KHIEU KAN-HARITH has just reminded me that I prom-ised never to sue journalists. Consequently Iwill not sue the journalist or journalists whoproduce or who shall produce texts, articlesslandering me, dragging me through the mudor insulting me or distorting History. I shallcontent myself with publishing ‘clarifications’or other texts (Replies, Protests, Reestab-lishments of historical truths...)”

- JANGSUWON STATE GUEST HOUSE,NORTH KOREA, APRIL 25, 2006

ON WORLD CUP FOOTBALL:

“Alas, instead of two victories in two matches,France has only gotten two draws. And this,one must underscore, was due to indubitablyanti-French referees who, respectively, deniedthe French in official competition a penalty anda ‘well-cooked’ goal, that is, obvious, shown ontelevision.”

- PHNOM PENH, JUNE 20, 2006

ON THE KHMER ROUGE TRIBUNAL:

“With the dozens of millions of US $ reservedfor the ‘trial,’ the trial in fact honoring Dutch, Ta

Mok, Khieu Samphan, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary,that is, just 5 or 6 aging, sick and unrepentantindividuals, one could provide immensely ben-eficial services to the Little People...useful inlifting them from their misery.”

- PHNOM PENH, JULY 6, 2006

ON THE KHMER ROUGE:

“Continuing to display, to exhibit withoutshame, for the pleasure of tourists and other‘visitors,’ the skulls, bone fragments (skele-tons, etc.) of the innocent victims of theDiabolical K.R. Polpotian Monsters, is to showextraordinary contempt and a total lack of pityfor the victims of the diabolical KR Polpotians.”

- PHNOM PENH, JULY 16 2006

ON FRANCE’S WORLD CUP DEFEAT:

“If [Italian footballer] Mr. Marco Materazzihadn’t uttered words of very grave, extremelygrave insult, to [French player] Mr. Zidane, it iscertain that the latter would not have beencrazy enough to deliver that ‘head butt’ to theItalian.”

- PHNOM PENH, JULY 16, 2006

ON FORMER KR COMMANDER TA MOK:

“And now there are a considerable number ofour compatriots who, as ‘worthy’ sons anddaughters, are deciding to pay homage to theprosthesis of a leg of TA MOK (a warrior whoreportedly lost a leg by jumping on a land-mine) as an equal to the relics of Buddha!!!”

- PHNOM PENH, AUG 6, 2006

ON DISGRACED FORMER PHNOM PENHPOLICE CHIEF HENG POV:

“Heng ‘POV,’ of course still outside Cambodia,is seeking to become a (low-level) ‘KhmerHOMER’ by continuing, with visible delight, to

tell of horrible and ‘fascinating’ stories of Super-Corruption and of countless ‘Frankensteinian’‘Crimes’ allegedly committed by our ‘newFatherland of Angkor’ Regime. [...] At any rate,in Phnom Penh they are unanimous in makingthe following observation: HENG ‘POV,’ as a‘super-star,’ is entirely eclipsing the ‘star’[Prince Norodom] Ranariddh. The latter canonly be saved in this regard by his lovely ‘EvilFox’ ‘sorceress,’ alias ‘Wolf of the Devil!’”

- SIEM REAP TOWN, AUG 23, 2006

ON ADULTERY:

“It seems that only communist Countries con-sider adultery a ‘crime.’ According to ‘anti-Communist Liberals,’ one can love and prac-tice adultery freely, as one loves and freely eatsfoie gras and ice-cream.”

- SEPT 6, 2006

EXCERPTED FROM THE ORIGINALSCREENPLAY “SORRY, LADY, I’M GAY”:

“(Widowed) Lady: ‘Mr. Rene, as I have told youalready, a year ago I lost my husband who wasa Colonel in the Army of the USA. He died inIraq. And you tell me that you live normally inFrance with your parents... Mr. Rene, I willcome right to the point. By visiting theFatherland of our origin, Kampuchea, Destinyhas allowed me to make your acquaintance inAngkor, symbol of the greatest glory ofKampuchea. And I have fallen in love with you.Will you marry me in Angkor, my belovedRene?’

“Rene: Madam, I too will come right to thepoint: I am an homosexual. Here is my wife,Mister Robert.’

“(The handsome and young Robertemerges in a dressing gown from the bath-room and, smiling, comes to greet the Khmerwidow of America most respectfully).”

- OCT 2, 2006

COMPILED BY DOUGLAS GILLISON

THE CAMBODIA DAILY

16 His Majesty’s Birthday

THE KING FATHER’S DIGITAL DISPATCHESHis 84th Was A Busy Year For The World’s Most Prolific Royal Blogger

Top Left: After playing basketball in1963, Norodom Sihanouk tells journal-ists in Phnom Penh that he does notwant to be dependent on the USPhoto: Audiovisual Resource Center/French NationalAudiovisual Institute

Right: Norodom Sihanouk boating offthe coast of Koh Kong province.Published Jan 15, 1967, in KambujamagazinePhoto: Courtesy of the National Library of Cambodia