King Sihanouk of Cambodia Abdicates, Draws Era to Close

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The New York Sun

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – King Norodom Sihanouk, known as much for his colorful personality as his controversial statesmanship, has been synonymous with Cambodia’s modern history for six decades. His era drew to an apparent close yesterday, when he stunned the country by announcing his abdication.


In a letter sent from China, where he has often sought medical treatment in recent years, the monarch cited a new and serious stomach ailment and asked “all compatriots to please allow me to retire.”


King Sihanouk – who turns 82 this month – has threatened many times to quit the throne, usually if some political deal or conditions weren’t met. The moves were mostly seen as a cross between canny political maneuvering and throwing a temper tantrum.


But this time, no ulterior motive was apparent.


King Sihanouk did much to earn the description of “mercurial monarch” through decades of political feints and jabs, shifting alliances and self-dramatizing pronouncements, delivered in his high-pitched voice or, more recently, via his personal Web site.


Domestically, Cambodia was a one-man show. King Sihanouk’s sharpest critics described him as an ancient Khmer ruler reincarnated in Western dress.


His security forces ruthlessly persecuted dissidents, sending the French educated leaders of the Communist Party into the jungles, where they would eventually emerge as the Khmer Rouge.


While old people in the countryside still held him in reverence, the young generation regarded him as a figure of the past and one partly responsible for Cambodia’s tragedy.


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