BANGKOK – One of Asia’s most colorful monarchs, Cambodia‘s King Norodom Sihanouk, has plunged his country into a constitutional crisis following Thursday’s announcement that he is abdicating.
The 82-year-old king’s decision was revealed on the day he was due back in the country from China, where he has been in self-imposed exile since the beginning of the year.
If the ailing Sihanouk sticks to his decision, say analysts, he forces into the open a provision lacking in the country’s constitution – how to fill a vacancy to the throne created by abdication.
"The constitution has no articles about succession if the king abdicates. It becomes a serious problem," Pen Samitthy, editor-in-chief of Rasmei Kampuchea, Cambodia’s largest circulating Khmer-language newspaper, told IPS.
According to Michael Hayes, publisher of the English-language fortnightly Phnom Penh Post, the king’s decision to abdicate will push the country down an unpredictable road.
"There could be a constitutional crisis here," he said in an interview. "It will be interesting to see how it plays out."
What the country’s 1993 constitution does have is Article 7, which clearly states: "The king shall be the head of state for life."
Such a lapse in this impoverished and politically unstable country has been an issue of concern given the regular threats the mercurial monarch has made to abdicate. This year marked a rise in Sihanouk’s threats to relinquish the throne.
Two reasons have often been mentioned for shaping his abdication plans: his failing health and his discomfort with the machinations of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) under the leadership of Prime Minister Hun Sen.
According to the constitution, a monarch is elected to the throne by a nine-member Throne Council only after a reigning king’s death. Eligibility to be such a constitutional monarch is limited to those who are descendants of three Cambodian kings, including Sihanouk. The vacancy has to be filled within seven days.
"This issue of abdication has created yet another uncertainty about the situation in Cambodia and even about the survival of the monarchy," Lao Mong Hay, a Cambodian political analyst, wrote in this week’s edition of the Phnom Penh Post.
"Does the Throne Council have any power to fill that vacancy? The answer is negative since this council is constitutionally empowered only to elect a successor to the reigning king after his death," he added.
Because of this, the Southeast Asian country’s parliament has made an urgent appeal to Sihanouk to reconsider his decision. All the parliamentarians in the ruling coalition government endorsed a letter sent Thursday requesting the king to remain on the throne, said Pen, the editor.
The opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP), too, has made a similar appeal. "The SRP Parliamentarians have sent a petition imploring His Majesty the King to reconsider his retirement, and pleading for his return home soon," declared a statement on the party’s Web site.
"The SRP parliamentarians believe it is not the time for finger pointing; it is not the time to use His Majesty’s decision to retire as an excuse for any political maneuvering," it added.
Such a hint of possible turmoil following Sihanouk’s abdication reveals his capacity to unify a country still struggling to come out of over two decades of war, civil strife and entrenched political rivalries.
"The absence of a monarch can be a problem for the country’s peace and security," Mu Soc Hua, former minister of women’s affairs, told IPS. "Peace and security for Cambodia can only be guaranteed by the current king."
"The people of Cambodia are shocked and saddened by the news," she added.
Such feelings are borne out by the reverence with which Cambodian citizens regard their king. His smiling image is a favorite among the pictures that adorn the walls in homes and shops.
And since Cambodia’s warring factions signed a peace accord in 1991 to move the country down the road toward reconciliation and democracy, Sihanouk has demonstrated some savvy to prevent internal conflict exploding into a civil war.
Yet this reputation for his love of the country has been matched by his forays to make a name for himself as a filmmaker, musician, author and orator. For almost two years, he even turned his hand toward information technology by creating his own Web site, through which he communicated directly with his subjects.
Sihanouk, who was born in October 1922, has dominated his country’s political life since it gained independence from France in 1953. He began as king in the new Cambodia but abdicated in favor of his father soon after to run for the office of prime minister.
His unpredictable moves in politics resulted in him teaming up in the 1970s with the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, which committed genocide during its four-year reign, where over 1.7 million Cambodians were killed.
Prince Sihamoni, 51, who is rumored to be the one Sihanouk favors as his successor, hardly measures up to his father’s checkered political legacy. What they share in common is a love for the arts. The prince himself is trained to be a ballet dancer.
"Prince Sihamoni is the only child of the king’s current wife," says a Cambodian political analyst. "The king wants to make sure who his successor will be. And abdication may help."
