ប្រវត្តិសាស្រ្តបិទមុខ

Norodom Sihanouk has served, at different times, as Cambodia’s king, prime minister, and head of state. In the 1960s he kept Cambodia from becoming involved in the turmoil of neighboring Vietnam, but was ousted from power in 1970 during the Vietnam War. While living in exile in China, Sihanouk formed ties with the Communist Khmer Rouge. He returned to nominal power in 1975, but resigned a year later in protest over the brutality of the Khmer Rouge regime. In 1991 he again came into power and was installed as king in 1993.

REUTERS/THE BETTMANN ARCHIVE
Norodom Sihanouk, born in 1922, king of Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and again from 1993 to 2004. He served at various times as prime minister (intermittently, 1952-1968) and as head of state (1960-1970, 1975-1976, 1991-1993). Sihanouk was at the forefront of Cambodian politics through the difficult years of the Vietnam War and the Khmer Rouge regime. Through it all, he held widespread support among the Cambodian people.

II FIRST REIGN AS KING
Norodom Sihanouk was born in Phnom Penh and attended primary school in that city. He then attended secondary school in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam, and military school in Saumur, France. On the death of his grandfather, King Sisovath Monivong, in 1941, Sihanouk was put on the throne with the approval of the French colonial government. He gradually became involved in the independence struggles of his people. In 1953 he went into voluntary exile to protest continued French colonialism in Cambodia, returning only after France recognized his country’s independence in 1954. In 1955 he abdicated in favor of his father, Norodom Suramarit. Sihanouk then formed a party that won all the seats in the National Assembly (Cambodia’s legislature) and took charge of the country’s affairs.

III TURBULENT YEARS
When his father died in 1960, Sihanouk declined to resume the throne, instead becoming head of state. He skillfully maintained Cambodia’s neutrality in the Vietnam War when the forces of both sides violated Cambodian territory. In March 1970 the National Assembly deposed Sihanouk while he was abroad. The anticommunist, pro-Western forces behind the coup included General Lon Nol, who assumed power. Sihanouk went into exile in China, where he established a government in exile in alliance with the procommunist guerrilla forces of the Khmer Rouge.
After the Khmer Rouge routed Lon Nol’s government in 1975, Sihanouk was installed as nominal head of state. However, Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot exercised real power. Sihanouk disagreed with the brutality of Pol Pot’s genocidal regime and was kept under house arrest in the royal palace in Phnom Penh. About 1.7 million Cambodians were killed during the four years of the Khmer Rouge regime.
Meanwhile, Pol Pot refused to ally with the Vietnamese communist government after the Vietnam War ended in 1975. Armed conflict soon erupted between the two countries, and Vietnamese forces launched a full-scale invasion of Cambodia in December 1978. Sihanouk pled Cambodia’s case before the United Nations against the puppet government installed by the Vietnamese in January 1979. Following another period of exile, Sihanouk in 1982 formed a common front with the Khmer Rouge and other groups to resist Vietnam’s military occupation of Cambodia, which continued until 1989.

IV RETURN AS KING
In 1991 Sihanouk became president of the Supreme National Council, a transitional body established by peace treaty to help govern Cambodia. In the aftermath of an inconclusive election in June 1993, he brokered an agreement for leaders of the two main parties to share power. In September 1993 the government ratified a new constitution restoring the monarchy and establishing the Kingdom of Cambodia. Sihanouk was installed as king.

Although he largely played the role of a figurehead, Sihanouk often interfered in Cambodian political decisions. He openly expressed his disapproval of the bitter political rivalries that prevented the formation of a coalition government after the 2003 elections. In ill health, he abdicated the throne in October 2004 in favor of his son, Norodom Sihamoni, a former ballet dancer whose only previous public role was as Cambodia’s ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Sihanouk authored My War with the CIA: The Memoirs of Prince Norodom Sihanouk (1972) and War and Hope: The Case for Cambodia (1980). He also produced numerous films about Cambodia, for which he wrote the screenplays and composed the musical scores.