The Peasant King - Hun Sen's Cambodia - page 126

ary 4, dignitaries including French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and Prince Ak-
ishino of Japan filed into the lavish pavilions on the veal mean . As darkness fell, Sihan-
ouk's crematorium blazed with thousands of tiny lights as King Sihamoni, Queen Mother
Monineath, a teary-eyed Hun Sen, and his wife Bun Rany entered its inner chamber to
ignite the casket. Half an hour later the former king was engulfed in flames, ascending in
a cloud of smoke as officers of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces sounded a deafening
artillery salute.
Despite his colossal stature, Sihanouk's passing had little political significance. There
was plenty of emotion near the veal mean , but no calls for freedom or justice—only a
shared immersion in the rhythms of Buddhist ritual and a nostalgia for the remembered,
or misremembered, “golden age” that had preceded the storm of civil war and revolu-
tionary violence. Each night of the funeral, thousands of mourners crowded outside the
blazing entrance of the veal mean . Sidewalk vendors, industrious as ever, hawked com-
memorative photos tracing Sihanouk's long career, from the haughty young monarch of
the 1940s, swaddled in gold cloth, to Sihanouk's official portrait in suit and tie, at the
cherubic peak of his power in the mid-1960s. There were even photos of Sihanouk in the
black Khmer Rouge pajamas he wore during his propaganda tour of the “liberated zone”
in 1973. “In [Sihanouk's] time, all of his children were very happy and educated,” said
Saem Yeam, a 77-year-old who sat patiently in the crowded park as the royal smoke rose
a few blocks away. “Everything was being developed. Everything was perfect.”
Sihanouk's lavish funeral was a fitting farewell for a towering political figure. In its
tightly scripted pomp it was also a victory lap for Hun Sen and the CPP—the culmination
of the party's long effort to bind the monarchy in ceremony, shackle it with praise, and
assert itself as the sole protector and heir of the royal legacy. From beginning to end the
proceedings were closely controlled. Government dignitaries and tycoons enjoyed front-
row seats, while members of the royal family were relegated to the edge of the funeral
complex. Sam Rainsy's request to return to Cambodia and pay his respects to the King
Father was refused. Barriers kept ordinary mourners far from the veal mean .
The party's true attitude toward Sihanouk, of course, was much more ambiguous. A
month earlier, when the CPP met for its annual January 7 celebrations marking the fall of
the Pol Pot regime, attendees honored Sihanouk with a minute of silence, while the CPP
“martyrs” who died battling the Khmer Rouge were given two minutes. 29 For more than
20 years the party had worked hard to neutralize Sihanouk's political potency and appro-
priate his legacy. Now it had just about succeeded. Sihanouk was gone. The monarchy
had expired as a political force in Cambodian politics.
While Sihamoni performed the king's traditional duties, Hun Sen left little doubt as to
who was the true heir. In a speech shortly after the cremation, Hun Sen claimed the light-
ing of the casket had been delayed because Sihanouk's spirit was waiting for the prime