Commentary: Trial by fury in Cambodia

JULIO A. JELDRES

Guest Commentary
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.)