February 15, 2013
No. 030/2013 dated fourteen February 2013
Norodom Sihanouk: His Mercurial Art of Preserving the Small State
By Emrys Chew & Alan Chong
Synopsis
No the single has devised the concept regulation for managing the tiny state's interests, let alone charted the foolproof march for survival. King Norodom Sihanouk's life as good as bequest must be appraised as the relentless diversion of skill to maintain Cambodia's domestic integrity.
Commentary
CAMBODIA'S FORMER King Norodom Sihanouk, ceremoniously laid to rest early this month, was often described by the world's press as mercurial. He appeared to leave statesmen as good as ideologues confused by the vicissitudes of his domestic life. But this was Sihanouk's injured genius.
As King in his teens, afterwards Prime Minister, as good as Head of State as good as King again, his destiny was intertwined with Cambodia's. Sihanouk ensured which his tiny state sired among the Cold War, orphaned through the cruelties of the Khmer Rouge, as good as afterwards occupied by Vietnam was, nonetheless, not rejected by the general community.
Sihanouk's two-fold charm
The Cambodia which Sihanouk reigned over was the distant cry from the ancient, unapproachable Khmer dominion which had once incorporated immeasurable swathes of present-day Thailand, Laos as good as Vietnam. Along with most of Asia from the l! ate 1940 s, he oversaw Cambodia's passing from the single to another toward emperor statehood. He contended with the politics of the enervated French empire, the Cold War manoeuvres of Moscow, Washington as good as Beijing, as good as the turmoil of neighbouring Asian nationalisms obsessed with recovering lost pride as good as territories.
Sihanouk's charm worked two-fold: in his capability to switch allegiance as the single would change the fit of clothes, as good as in his capability to change the encroaching powers. While not all he did was an unqualified success, his unusual moves helped preserve Cambodia notwithstanding repeated tragedies.
As World War Two ended, young Sihanouk, who was enthroned by the French colonial power, as good as kept upon by the Japanese Imperial Army, motionless which the favoured supervision accorded him could be driven towards the domestic bargain heading to autonomy with the constitution modelled upon the 1946 French constitution. The French supposed this fait accompli though were demure to accede to full independence. Meanwhile, Vietnamese communist nationalism was beginning to enthuse anti-colonial movements upon the ground, threatening Sihanouk's legitimacy as the nationalist spearhead.
Refusing to be held warrant by French pusillanimity, Sihanouk visited London as good as Washington, looking capitulation of his anti-communist, pro-independence credentials. Sihanouk argued which if he was bereft of Anglo-American backing, the French would palm Cambodia to the communists waging an anti-colonial insurgency in Cambodia as good as Vietnam.
Sihanouk leveraged himself between the American joining to await the NATO ally France, as good as needing to behind anti-communist nationalists. He extracted the dual joining from both the French as good as the Americans for the prejudiced neutralisation of Cambodia. Independence was completed without bloodshed in 1953, as good as aid as good as defence agreements with the Americans followed.
Sihanouk preferred an additional layer of insurance, however. To keep Cambodia from getting drawn in to the wider informal conflict, he espoused non-alignment by forging ties with Nehru's India as good as alternative members of the Afro-Asian movement which he had associated with during Bandung in 1955. Yet he was the fickle figure operating in the high-pressure geopolitical environment where genuine neutrality was probably impossible. This led him to make difficult choices of alliances, in pursuit of what he perceived as the slightest dangerous march of movement for Cambodia.
With the Vietnam War escalating in the late 1960s as good as the US Air Force bombing Vietnamese military sanctuaries in Cambodia, Sihanouk appealed to China to vigour both Hanoi as good as Washington. But whilst visitingMoscow to seek Soviet await opposite North Vietnam, he was suspended by the US-backed General Lon Nol in 1970 effectively forcing him in to domestic outcast in Beijing. Sihanouk responded to the domestic betrayal by striking an ill-fated bargain with Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, which he had suppressed previously. Visiting them in the field, his charismatic presence swelled their ranks from 6,000 to 50,000 fighters, most of whom were loyalist peasants fighting for Sihanouk, not communism.
Seizing power in 1975, the Khmer Rouge invited Sihanouk to lapse as conduct of state momentarily before consigning him to residence arrest. When the Khmer Rouge system of administration was suspended by Vietnamese forces in 1979, Sihanouk skilfully courted the Americans, along with ASEAN as good as the Chinese, in marshalling all Cambodian forces opposite the Soviet-backed Vietnamese occupation. Sihanouk presided over the UN-backed coalition which pressured Vietnam to withdraw from Cambodia in 1989 as good as restored constitutional supervision in 1993. Sihanouk returned to Cambodia as aristocrat again until his abandonment in 2004.
Attesting to Sihanou! k's rema rkable capacity to forgive as good as reconcile the extremes, he presided over the royal supervision which was headed by dual budding ministers, the Vietnamese-supported Hun Sen as good as the single of Sihanouk's sons, Prince Ranariddh. Both premiers fell out following the defection of the Khmer Rouge in the post-war domestic landscape.
Although Premier Hun Sen in the future took charge under the parliamentary complement which reinforced the widespread celebration regime, Sihanouk had completed his idea of preserving Cambodian sovereignty. It must have since Sihanouk some satisfaction in his aged age which notwithstanding issues with corruption as good as authoritarianism, Hun Sen's Cambodia was during last entering the proviso of assent as good as fortitude after four decades of constant conflict.
The art of the fickle leader
We competence never know what he indeed suspicion of his opponents, though in his worldview, the Cold War was never the bipolar chess diversion as good as he never the tiny pawn. His bequest must surely be appraised as which of the Third World leader personification the Cold War contest with the weakest hand, yet compensating by personification fast as good as loose.
Sihanouk was by turns entrepreneurial, as good as where he could not carry out events, drifted along with the domestic tides, until such time as he could play his cards to decisive effect. He lifted most eyebrows when he bided his time in outcast in both Beijing as good as ! Pyongyan g. His chameleonic domestic alliances as good as impassioned ideological coherence showcased the strength of weakness, the chance to strategies available to leaders of tiny states.
Independent Cambodia faced the vital nightmare not unlike most decolonised states. To check predatory neighbours he courted the large powers. When some of them turned menacing, he courted their rivals. He conceded belligerent tactically, with the existential aim of keeping Cambodian supervision intact. With the disarming grin opposite the volatility of competing informal nationalisms as good as global superpower brinkmanship he demonstrated which the 'tail' could zany the 'dog'. Sihanouk looms larger than life in the annals of Asian nationalism, carrying so intuitively set the mercury customary for tiny state survival.
Emrys Chew is Assistant Professor of History as good as Alan Chong is Associate Professor of International Relations, both during the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.
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