Cambodia's Ex-King Norodom Sihanouk Dies In Beijing

[webfact]

Cambodia's ex-king Norodom Sihanouk dies in Beijing

BEIJING, Oct 15, 2012 (AFP) - Cambodia's former king Norodom Sihanouk, a revered figure in his home country who had suffered from a number of ailments in recent years, died in Beijing on Monday, Chinese state media and close aides said.

"Norodom Sihanouk has died in Beijing," Chinese state news agency Xinhua said. The ex-monarch would have been 90 on October 31.

"Our former King died at 2:00 a.m. early Monday in Beijing due to natural cause," Cambodian deputy prime minister Nhek Bunchhay told Xinhua by phone.

"This is a great loss for Cambodia. We feel very sad. The former king was a great king that we all respect and love him."

Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen will fly to Beijing Monday morning to receive Sihanouk's body for a traditional funeral in Cambodia, he added when contacted by AFP.

The monarch had been a frequent visitor to China, where he received the bulk of his medical treatment. He had been staying at his Beijing residence since January.

"He had heart problems. He was very steadily declining," Sihanouk's personal assistant Prince Sisowath Thomico told AFP.

"It's painful. I am full of sorrow," he said. "King Sihanouk did not belong to his family, he belonged to Cambodia and to history."

One of Asia's longest-serving monarchs, the former king abruptly quit the throne in October 2004 in favour of his son, citing old age and health problems.

His had suffered from a series of ailments, including cancer, diabetes and hypertension as well as the heart problems.

Despite abdicating in favour of his son Sihamoni, the ex-monarch remained hugely popular in his country, with his portrait still adorning public buildings and many Cambodian homes, and he sometimes used his website to communicate with the outside world.

In a message in January, he said he wanted to be cremated upon his death and have his ashes kept in an urn inside the Royal Palace, reversing an earlier wish to be buried.

His death comes on the final day of Cambodia's annual festival for the dead, known as Pchum Ben, when most Cambodians leave the capital city Phnom Penh to spend time with their families in the countryside.

Cambodians believe their dead ancestors emerge to walk the earth during this time, and they honour and remember them with prayers and food offerings at Buddhist pagodas.

Prince Thomico believed Cambodians would find it "significant" Sihanouk had died on the ultimate day of the 15-day festival.

Twice exiled and twice returned to the throne, Sihanouk lived a life almost as turbulent as his country's history.

He was placed on the throne in 1941 at the age of 18 by French colonial authorities.

Twelve years later he gained Cambodia's independence and shortly after quit the throne for the first time in favour of his father Prince Norodom Suramarit to pursue a career in politics.

Sihanouk served as premier half a dozen times, repeatedly leaving the post with a characteristic flash of angry theatre over perceived slights, until finally becoming "head of state" following the death of his father in 1960.

He was toppled in a US-backed coup by one of his own generals, Lon Nol, in 1970.

Sihanouk aligned himself with communist guerrillas who later emerged as the Khmer Rouge and used him as a figurehead before putting him under house arrest in the royal palace with his family during their 1975-79 reign of terror.

He later condemned the Khmer Rouge and regained the throne in 1993, having helped push for peace.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2012-10-15

[webfact]

CAMBODIA

Cambodia's former king Norodom Sihanouk dies, aged 89

The Nation

BEIJING: -- Cambodia's former King Norodom Sihanouk - a revered figure in his country - has died aged 89, BBC reported Monday.

He died of a heart attack in China’s capital, Beijing. Sihanouk came to the throne in 1941 and led Cambodia to independence from France in 1953.

Despite long periods of exile and his abdication in 2004 due to ill health, he remained an influential figure.

Sihanouk was born in 1922, the eldest son of King Norodom Suramarit and Queen Kossamak.

Educated at French schools in Saigon and in Paris, the Nazi-controlled Vichy government in France crowned Sihanouk king of Cambodia in 1941, bypassing his father in the hope that the 18-year-old could easily be manipulated.

However, after the war Sihanouk embarked on an international campaign aimed at ensuring independence for Cambodia.

It was achieved without bloodshed in 1953 - after nearly a century of French rule. Two years later Sihanouk abdicated in favour of his father and became both prime minister and foreign minister of his country.

Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge brought death and starvation to millions of Cambodians He tried - but failed - to keep the country from the Cold War conflict that engulfed south-east Asia in the 1970s, striking an ill-fated deal with the emerging Communist force, the Khmer Rouge.

The brutal regime - which ruled the country in 1975-79 - was responsible for one of the worst mass killings of the 20th Century.

It claimed the lives of more than a million people - and some estimates say up to 2.5 million perished.

Sihanouk later condemned the Khmer Rouge for the deaths of the Cambodians, including of his own children.

However, Sihanouk and the Khmer Rouge had a common enemy in the face the Vietnamese-installed government, the BBC’s Jill McGivering says.

When the UN in 1991 persuaded the Vietnamese to withdraw and set Cambodia on the road to democracy, Sihanouk returned again as king.

His role was increasingly as broker between Cambodia’s warring political factions as his health steadily worsened, our correspondent says.

Despite being criticised for being autocratic, volatile and elitist, she adds, for the people of Cambodia he was a much-loved father figure, a rare point of constancy through decades of instability and bloodshed.

-- The Nation 2012-10-15

[Sydebolle]

H.M. was one of the most influential persons in Indochina's turbulent 20th century. Those who attended his speech at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand back in 1992 at the Siam Intercontinental will remember, what kind of powerful person this apparent baby face actually was.

With him the last "colonized" head of state of Indochina has passed away and nobody will ever know what would have happened, if his own general Lon Nol would have not been supported by the US.

Indochina's history in general and the Cambodian genocide would have turned out considerably less violent and there is nothing the French educated head of state during his 63 years of reign could have done different about it.

[lubbkis]

May he rest in peace. I think there is a great deal that the world will never know but from the little I know I suspect few of us would like to have faced this man's choices.

[webfact]

Thai PM expresses condolences on the death of Cambodia's ex-king Sihanouk

BANGKOK, Oct 15 - Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Monday expressed sadness at the death of former Cambodian king Norodom Sihanouk in Beijing, assigning the Foreign Ministry to send a letter of condolence to the Cambodian government.

The Cambodian ex-monarch reportedly passed away in Beijing due to natural causes as he was suffering from a number of ailments for some years. Had he lived he would have celebrated his 90th birthday October 31.

Thai government spokeswoman Sansanee Nakpong said Ms Yingluck instructed the foreign ministry to send a condolences letter to Phnom Penh and assigned the Thai embassy there to lay a wreath once the official schedule of the funeral rites is confirmed.

Ms Sansanee said the Thai premier will also attend the funeral herself.

Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that former king Norodom Sihanouk reigned Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and again from 1993 until his voluntary abdication on Oct. 7, 2004 in favour of his son, the current King Norodom Sihamoni.

It said Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni and Prime Minister Hun Sen arrived in Beijing to bring home the body of the King-Father.

Meanwhile, trade at Thai-Cambodian border at Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet and Cambodia's Banteay Meanchey on were quiet Monday. The number of Cambodian traders and workers who usually cross the border everyday dramatically dropped following the announcement of the ex-king's death, combined with the religious ceremony period during the end of Buddhist Lent.

The Cambodian government has announced a flag lowering to half-mast to mourn for the late revered monarch.

About half of some two thousand Cambodian traders shops at Thailand’s Rong Klua Market were reportedly closed on Monday. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-10-15

[Vale Tudo]

Source Bloomberg's :

http://www.bloomberg...ource=hootsuite

This is a man who really has been through some very hard times,at the hands of the Khmer Rouge among other colonising countries!He must have been quite a character to come through it all,I believe he also directed some pretty famous films in Cambodia too.

He must have been a courageous man through such difficult times,although he does seem to divide opinions of people worldwide.

[geriatrickid]

H.M. was one of the most influential persons in Indochina's turbulent 20th century. Those who attended his speech at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand back in 1992 at the Siam Intercontinental will remember, what kind of powerful person this apparent baby face actually was.

With him the last "colonized" head of state of Indochina has passed away and nobody will ever know what would have happened, if his own general Lon Nol would have not been supported by the US.

Indochina's history in general and the Cambodian genocide would have turned out considerably less violent and there is nothing the French educated head of state during his 63 years of reign could have done different about it.

Although, you have provided a lovely white wash spin you, it belies the truth. The man was installed by the former French colonial administration and had no more legitimacy than Lon Nol. You conveniently forgot to mention his 1960 act where he changed in the constitution that made him head of state for life and gave the reformists and revolutionaries additional reason to oppose him. He gambled when he tossed his lot in with the khmer rouge and only his unwavering loyalty to China saved him while millions perished. There is most certainly alot during his reign that he could have done different and there is a reason he picked "exile" in North Korea and then China. He played the game of politics right up until the end. Hun Sen had his number and contained him for the betterment and good of Cambodia.

[sunshine51]

Geriatrickid...

What you say is true, however Hun Sen ain't no saint and you must remember who

actually won the first election back in 1993...it sure as hell wasn't Hun Sen. H. M.

was very ill for the past 3 decades...perhaps he's finally found the peace he always

wanted.

[GuestHouse]

This man's part in the recent history of Cambodia is part of the truth that the former Khmer Rouge running Cambodia now are doing their level best to bury.

[Sydebolle]

H.M. was one of the most influential persons in Indochina's turbulent 20th century. Those who attended his speech at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand back in 1992 at the Siam Intercontinental will remember, what kind of powerful person this apparent baby face actually was.

With him the last "colonized" head of state of Indochina has passed away and nobody will ever know what would have happened, if his own general Lon Nol would have not been supported by the US.

Indochina's history in general and the Cambodian genocide would have turned out considerably less violent and there is nothing the French educated head of state during his 63 years of reign could have done different about it.

Although, you have provided a lovely white wash spin you, it belies the truth. The man was installed by the former French colonial administration and had no more legitimacy than Lon Nol. You conveniently forgot to mention his 1960 act where he changed in the constitution that made him head of state for life and gave the reformists and revolutionaries additional reason to oppose him. He gambled when he tossed his lot in with the khmer rouge and only his unwavering loyalty to China saved him while millions perished. There is most certainly alot during his reign that he could have done different and there is a reason he picked "exile" in North Korea and then China. He played the game of politics right up until the end. Hun Sen had his number and contained him for the betterment and good of Cambodia.

He was indeed installed by the French in 1941 as a 19-year old in the wrong belief, that he might be easily manipulatable. in 1953 he led Cambodia into independence without a single shot fired and declared a neutral kingdom. In the sixties he amended the constitution in the interest of the country (his children were .... children - at the time) and to avoid any fear/domestic insecurity in relation to the growing Indochina war (the 2nd one, that is, with the Americanos). In the 70s then the Americans had bribed Sihanouk's general Lon Nol enough to topple Sihanouk who went into surviving exile. In 75 then Indochina fell, the Khmer Rouge installed themselves with Chinese assistance. Sihanouk did shoulder-rubbing with the Khmer Rouge and convinced in 1977 Hun Sen (a Khmer Rouge favourite) to change side. On January 7th, 1979 Cambodia ridded itself from the claws of the Khmer Rouge with a Vietnamese-enforced peace-keeping invasion. In 1997 the Cambodian government (completely screwed by an entire shadow government with a first and a second prime minister etc.) got overturned and finally Sihanouk abdicated in favour of his son Norodom Sihamoni, a dance teacher and accredited Cambodian Ambassador to France.

In all fairness, any other person would have done much, much worse and in private conversations with Son Majésté it became apparent, that Cambodia would have taken a much more desolate path without the Royal baby face. Point taken, he was far from perfect but his links to North Korea (Kim Il Sung) and PR China (Mao Tze Tung) were of survival importance in political as well as in medical terms. A true master of the poltical chess game but ultimately credited for the peace - after 30 years of war and genocide as a neutral country - due to colonial influence under which he was educated and learnt the strings.

C'etait une plaisir de faire votre connnaisance, Votre Majésté! (I am not French, by the way!)

[cdnski12]

I'm surprised that Shianouk never retired to Thailand? He should feel at home in LOS, as he was a Government change survivor. Virtually all his relatives in Cambodia were butchered off by the Khmer Rouge & Pol Pot. The facile Shianouk managed to foist off everyone, the Cambodian Republicans & Lol Non's Army, the USA, Russia, China, North & South Vietnams and the goofy Khmer Rouge & Pol Pot's Henchmen. He adroitly played them all off, against each other, very successfully. Each gave him many millions of USD. I doubt he would take Chinese Yuan, which at the time had no value outside of Mainland China.

He could have escaped to the west at many times; but presumably he milked the ever gullible Chicom Govt, for all the money he could get. Nevertheless; if Pol Pot recieved shelter from the Thai & US Govts at his Trat located Villas, surely Shianouk could have ensconced himself in BKK or Chiang Mai in relative safe comfort?

[Vale Tudo]

It's typical that people come on here wanting to knock him,he was a very charismatic individual who survived through some of the toughest times anywhere on the planet,as mentioned before largely due to his skill as a politician and diplomat.

Just surviving the utterly brutal Khmer Rouge regime is a massive achievement in itself,who is to say how many of his subjects he saved from these monsters but I'm betting it was a large number!Have you people knocking him even visited The Killing Fields at Choeung Ek and Tuol Sleng prison,or S-21 as it was known,the school converted to a torture chamber?

He was loved by the Khmer people all the way through his reign,that must tell you something about his character and it's good enough for me to believe they were right about him.No matter what the usual suspects or idiots pop up on here saying!

Do anyone of you even have any Khmer friends?I have many and they are all certainly in mourning for his passing!