Kingdom of Cambodia

[Julia]

U.N. congratulates new Cambodia king

United Nations, United States, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Thursday congratulated King Norodom Sihamoni for his election as Cambodia's new king and head of state.

The Secretary-General welcomed the Royal Throne Council's unanimous election of King Sihamoni and offered his best wishes to the new monarch, said an associate spokeswoman at U.N. World Headquarters in New York, Denise Cook. "He wishes him every success in this important role."

Annan also paid tribute to King Norodom Sihanouk for the "outstanding public service" rendered to his country the last 50 years. He also praised the former king's indispensable role during the peace process that led to the Cambodia's first democratic elections in 1993.

The 81-year-old, and frail, Sihanouk abdicated, citing poor health.

[julial]

Ballet dancer as the new figure head king! well, well- I am sure prince Ranarridh is so much capable and well-trained as a future king than Shihamoni but because the rivalry between Hun Sen and he would put the country in turmoil again so this smiley, flamboyant bachelor brother with a great taste of art would be more fitting-he probably does not care about politics at all-I guess what is considered good quality in one person is all depended on the situation of the time.

[julial]

he has so may wives...! and he is not muslim, buddist? apparently shihamoni is his 6th wife`s son

[julial]

Cambodian king choice to be unanimous
Thu 14 October, 2004 05:40





PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Prince Norodom Sihamoni will be the unanimous choice to succeed his father to the Cambodian throne today, his half-brother Norodom Ranariddh says.

"All nine members of the Royal Throne Council support Sihamoni as the new king," Ranariddh told reporters on his return from Beijing, where he failed to persuade their father, Norodom Sihanouk, to withdraw his shock abdication.

Sihamoni would accompany Sihanouk back from Beijing on October 20 and be crowned on Oct 29., Ranariddh said.

The council was due to meet later on Thursday to choose a new monarch and Sihamoni, a 51-year-old Prague-educated dance teacher who until recently was Cambodia's ambassador to UNESCO in Paris, appears to be the only candidate.

Ranariddh, deep into politics like most of Sihanouk's other children who survived the Khmer Rouge "Killing Fields" years of the 1970s, helped persuade the reluctant Sihamoni to take the throne.

Sihanouk said Sihamoni, who has spent much of his life outside Cambodia, would be his ideal successor because he was not involved in politics and Prime Minister Hun Sen, a member of the Royal Throne Council, backed his choice.

Sihanouk, who turns 82 on October 31 and has been having medical treatment in Beijing for months, announced a week ago that he was too old, sick and tired to carry on and rebuffed all attempts to get him to change his mind.

He made plain in a message to the Cambodian people on Tuesday that he wanted the succession determined before he died, even though the constitution says the monarch rules for life, because he feared another bloodbath if it was not.

"My abdication allows me to give our country, our nation and our people a serious opportunity to avoid mortal turmoil the day after my death," Sihanouk wrote.

Cambodian politics were so factionalised that an all-out battle for power could erupt if there were no monarch to keep the lid on, he said.

"Cambodian republicans are irredeemably divided into antagonistic, well organised clans, even armies, capable of falling on each other in tragic and bloody fashion," he said.

Cambodia's two houses of parliament rushed through legislation allowing Sihanouk to retire when it became clear he would not change his mind about abdicating, a move he had threatened many times in frustration at political chaos.

Sihamoni has none of the vast experience of his father, who led his country to independence from France, tried to keep it out of the Vietnam War and survived the Khmer Rouge, although more than a dozen of his children and grandchildren did not.

However, diplomats said the polyglot bachelor, who has never held any political office, might not be the pushover many expect.

"He's very much an unknown quantity, but he's certainly no fool," said one Western diplomat who met Sihamoni at UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organisation.

[julial]

Cambodians Are Ready to Crown His Majesty the Ballet Dancer

By SETH MYDANS Published: October 15, 2004
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, Oct. 14 - Prince Norodom Sihamoni, 51, a dancer and choreographer, is to be crowned king this month, carrying out the wishes of his father in the first change in the monarchy most Cambodians have known.

Both men were in Beijing, where the father, 81, has been receiving medical treatment and where he issued a statement of abdication a week ago that took his country by surprise.

Under the constitution, a special Throne Council had seven days to name his successor, and the former king made it clear that Prince Sihamoni was his choice. Although he is a constitutional monarch with no real power, his words carry moral force here, and the country's political leaders quickly agreed. Low-key and businesslike in the grand, gilded, central hall of the royal palace, the Throne Council made the choice official on Thursday. One by one, the council members - seven of them in white uniforms and two in the orange robes of senior monks - slipped ballots into a large transparent box in a unanimous vote.

As each vote was read out, Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is a member of the council, marked them on a large white board in the televised procedure.

Both the past and future kings are scheduled to return from Beijing next week, and the coronation is to be held on Oct. 29, according to Norodom Ranariddh, another royal son, who is speaker of the National Assembly and a member of the council.

Perhaps because the former king remains alive and because he is expected to remain a reassuring presence here, the reaction to his abdication seemed sad but understated. "I just follow His Majesty's decisions," said Somnol Som Hen, 64, who said her great uncle was a chauffeur for the departing king's father. "I feel a little sad, but everything depends on his decisions. You cannot oppose them or object to them." Chip Born, 43, a tailor, said: "When I heard that the king would not be the king any more, my heart just dropped, right down to the bottom. But you know the saying, you cannot stop the rain."

When he was asked his feelings about the real power in the country, Mr. Hun Sen, he said: "I don't want to comment on our prime minister because I don't know in detail what he has done well and not well, and I don't want to have any comment on that. I am just a tailor."

Just across a park from the palace, on the banks of the Tonle Sap River, strollers seemed to pay no attention to the moment of transition that was taking place behind its high, yellow walls.

"What? I didn't know anything about that," said Nheat Davy, 35, a snack-seller, as she sat over a basket of fried crickets, silk worms and beetles. "Of course we would like the king to be our king forever and bring us peace. But we are his children. We don't decide what to do."

[tflos_1985]

I can find nothing about the Cambodian Royal Family in this website.Perhaps this is the only one that is ignored by the Royal Forum.There is also something interesting about this royal house . The retired king Sihanouk and Queen Monique.King Sihamoni.......................................... .......And the unique Khmer culture has very long history

[purple_platinum]

tflos_1985, you can find news & photos of Royal Family of Cambodia, here :

Kingdom of Cambodia

[Mandy]

tflos_1985, I have merged your question with the Cambodian Royalty thread and I hope this what you are looking for.

Thanks your assistance purple_platinum.:)

[fanletizia]

PHNOM PENH : Cambodia's king has pardoned exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy who was sentenced to jail for defamation, in a move officials said was at the request of Prime Minister Hun Sen.

"Convict Sam Rainsy ... is pardoned," a statement from the palace read out on state television said.

The decision comes two days after Sam Rainsy recanted accusations that Prime Minister Hun Sen was behind a deadly 1997 grenade attack and other violent acts against his party.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stori...191782/1/.html

[rath soly]

Thank you for everyone posting the very nice pictures, I got the clue with you now i want to express with the "Verbal "Discussion asean is acting like asean, I hope that everybody will recognise our King around the world by TV, internet..ect. It's my duty to do the decoration because some friend said not like and i was drank lil (--)pp make me smarter to tell the true color about the pictures.
What favor that we can act ? I understand the thread of asean some country are Royal and "non" this color of Royal picture are already beautiful ! i hope some friend will explain about this "verbal" is it were true or false? maybe Pol it wasn't
Blessing all of you and sucess at your businesss..!

[purple_platinum]

from ANP

Cambodian opposition party leader, Sam Rainsy (L), shakes hand with Prince Norodom Ranariddh (R), president of National Assembly at National Assembly in Phnom Penh, 15 February 2006. Rainsy met with prince Norodom Ranariddh 15 Febraury for the first time since a royal pardon allowed him to return home from exile 10 February and end his feud with the premier.
AFP PHOTO/ TANG CHHIN SOTHY

[purple_platinum]

i like the new king, he's all smiley and he looks like Yul Brynner from the movie 'King and I'.
here's one more from AFP-ANP of the Indonesian President's arrival :

[purple_platinum]

Cambodia's Prince Ranariddh resigns as assembly president

Friday March 3, 7:46 PM
(Kyodo) _ Prince Norodom Ranariddh, son of retired King Norodom Sihanouk, has resigned as president of the National Assembly, local news media reported Friday.
The reports said the prince announced his resignation through a letter dated Friday.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060303/kyodo/d8g42p6g0.html

[fanletizia]

King Norodom Sihamoni departures to Laos at Phnom Penh international airport on March 14, 2006. King Sihamoni will visit Laos from March 14 to 16 and Vietnam from March 16 to 18.

from newscom

[fanletizia]

King arrived to Vietnam

from getty

[mandyy]

More from the state visit
#1-2: From getty images
#1-2: Visiting Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni (L) is greeted by Vietnamese Communist Party Secretary General Nong Duc Manh, 16 March 2006 in Hanoi.
#3: Profimedia
#4: Reuters
#5: Polfoto-Vietnamese President Tran Duc Luong, right, shakes hands with Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Thursday, March 16, 2006.

[fanletizia]

King Norodom Sihamoni greets officials and others on his arrival Saturday, March, 18, 2006, at Phnom Penh, Cambodia, airport. Sihamoni was returning from a visit to Vietnam

from polfoto

[fanletizia]

More images of the Visit to Vietnam

1.- at the mausoleum of Vietnam's late President Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi March 18, 2006

2.- farewell ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi March 18, 2006.


from yahoo/reuters

[purple_platinum]

Cambodia King Norodom Sihamoni (3R) poses for photo next to Cambodian's senate president, Chea Sim (4R) at the senate building in Phnom Penh, 20 March 2006. King Sihamoni presided over the first meeting of The 61-seat Senate. 57 senators were chosen by parliamentarians and councilors in January, while four senators were appointed by the National Assembly and King Sihamoni. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling party has secured a landslide victory in the country's first Senate election.

from ANP (AFP PHOTO/Khem Sovannara)

[purple_platinum]

Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni (R) walks past a national flag at the senate building in Phnom Penh, 20 March 2006. King Sihamoni 20 March presided over the first meeting of The 61-seat Senate. 57 senators were chosen by parliamentarians and councilors in January, while four senators were appointed by the National Assembly and King Sihamoni. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's ruling party has secured a landslide victory in the country's first Senate election.

photo from profimedia /Khem Sovannara