Cambodians await body of ex-king
Source: Agencies |
October 17, 2012, Wednesday
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Cambodians prayed for the soul of their former King Norodom Sihanouk yesterday and world leaders sent their condolences as the country prepared for the return of his body.
Sihanouk died on Monday at age 90 of a heart attack in Beijing, where he had been receiving medical treatment since January for multiple ailments.
Officials expect at least 100,000 people to line the route from the Phnom Penh airport, where his body is expected to arrive today, to the Royal Palace where it will lay in state during a week of official mourning.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered all radio and television stations not to play inappropriately lighthearted music or programming that might show disrespect to the late monarch, who abdicated in 2004 in favor of his son Sihamoni.
Sihanouk's body will remain in the palace for a total of three months, during which time the public can pay respects before it is cremated according to Buddhist ritual.
Nearly 100 Buddhist monks and nuns chanted and prayed for Sihanouk at a one-hour ceremony yesterday at a pagoda near the Royal Palace.
"As Buddhists, we believe that our chanting and praying will help send the soul of our beloved king-father to rest in peace and be quickly reborn," said Ngoun Pheadkey, a 22-year-old Buddhist monk. He added that the ceremony was also to express gratitude to the former king for his leadership and legacy.
Bunches of flowers lay on the sidewalk against the palace walls. Several dozen people, mostly older, traveled into the capital from other provinces after hearing of Sihanouk's death.
"All the people in Kampong Chhnang province were very upset and full of regret when they heard that he had died," said Pen Sominea, 50, a cook. "Everybody wishes he had not died now and that he could have lived longer."
Sihanouk was the last surviving Southeast Asian leader who pioneered his nation through postwar independence. He tried to steer his country on a neutralist course during the Cold War.
Eventually, however, his country became enmeshed in the conflict in neighboring Vietnam, leading to his first fall from power and culminating in the murderous rule of the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s, during which about 1.7 million of his countrymen perished.
His legacy became tainted because in an effort to regain his political influence, he made common cause with Khmer Rouge, though the regime never yielded power to him and killed five of his children.
After the Khmer Rouge were ousted, and Sihanouk regained the throne in 1993, he rebuilt his reputation as the conscience of his country. But Hun Sen, a tough and canny politician who had defected from the Khmer Rouge, undercut his influence, and a discouraged Sihanouk gave up the throne eight years ago. Sihanouk spent much of the rest of his life in China.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent condolences and acknowledged Sihanouk's "long dedication to his country and his legacy as a unifying national leader who is revered by Cambodians and respected internationally," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
Sihanouk died on Monday at age 90 of a heart attack in Beijing, where he had been receiving medical treatment since January for multiple ailments.
Officials expect at least 100,000 people to line the route from the Phnom Penh airport, where his body is expected to arrive today, to the Royal Palace where it will lay in state during a week of official mourning.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen ordered all radio and television stations not to play inappropriately lighthearted music or programming that might show disrespect to the late monarch, who abdicated in 2004 in favor of his son Sihamoni.
Sihanouk's body will remain in the palace for a total of three months, during which time the public can pay respects before it is cremated according to Buddhist ritual.
Nearly 100 Buddhist monks and nuns chanted and prayed for Sihanouk at a one-hour ceremony yesterday at a pagoda near the Royal Palace.
"As Buddhists, we believe that our chanting and praying will help send the soul of our beloved king-father to rest in peace and be quickly reborn," said Ngoun Pheadkey, a 22-year-old Buddhist monk. He added that the ceremony was also to express gratitude to the former king for his leadership and legacy.
Bunches of flowers lay on the sidewalk against the palace walls. Several dozen people, mostly older, traveled into the capital from other provinces after hearing of Sihanouk's death.
"All the people in Kampong Chhnang province were very upset and full of regret when they heard that he had died," said Pen Sominea, 50, a cook. "Everybody wishes he had not died now and that he could have lived longer."
Sihanouk was the last surviving Southeast Asian leader who pioneered his nation through postwar independence. He tried to steer his country on a neutralist course during the Cold War.
Eventually, however, his country became enmeshed in the conflict in neighboring Vietnam, leading to his first fall from power and culminating in the murderous rule of the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s, during which about 1.7 million of his countrymen perished.
His legacy became tainted because in an effort to regain his political influence, he made common cause with Khmer Rouge, though the regime never yielded power to him and killed five of his children.
After the Khmer Rouge were ousted, and Sihanouk regained the throne in 1993, he rebuilt his reputation as the conscience of his country. But Hun Sen, a tough and canny politician who had defected from the Khmer Rouge, undercut his influence, and a discouraged Sihanouk gave up the throne eight years ago. Sihanouk spent much of the rest of his life in China.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent condolences and acknowledged Sihanouk's "long dedication to his country and his legacy as a unifying national leader who is revered by Cambodians and respected internationally," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
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