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History and Kingship in Contemporary Cambodia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Milton E. Osborne
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Extract

Human nature is inevitably concerned with the past which, for nations no less than for individuals, forms a framework for present attitudes and sometimes a justification for present actions. In the developed countries of the West this framework is easily and frequently obscured, although its presence can be readily demonstrated. For those nations which have, until recently, been controlled by one or other of the European powers, however, the past provides a framework to which national appeal is often made in a particularly explicit way.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian History , Volume 7 , Issue 1 , March 1966 , pp. 1 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1966

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References

1. Groslier, B-P., Angkor et le Cambodge au XVIe siècle (Paris 1958), p. III.Google Scholar

2. Doumer, P., I/Indo-China Française, pp. 246–247.Google Scholar

3. Remusat, G. de C., L'Art Khmer: tes grandes étapes de son évolution (Paris, 1951), p. 10.Google Scholar

4. Moura, J., Le Royaume du Cambodge (Paris, 1883), Tome II, p. 128.Google Scholar

5. When the Mekong expedition under Doudart de Lagrèe's leadership visited Angkor in 1866 it was informed, correctly it appears, that although no trace remained of them, the buildings were once topped by metal towers. On this see Garnier, F., Voyage d'exploration en Indochine 1866–68 (Paris, 1873), Tome I, p. 32Google Scholar. Folklore concerning Angkor and its kings is a solid part of Khmer life.

* the great capital, that is Angkor.

6. Cambodge published by the Ministry of Information, Phnom Penh (1962), p. 3. My translation from French.

7. Sary, Sam (ed.), La grande figure de Norodom Sihanouk (Phnom Penh, 1955), p. 3.Google Scholar

8. Radio Broadcast recorded by United States Embassy Monitoring Service, Phnom Penh, 11 January 1959.

9. Réalités Cambodgiennes (Phnom Penh) 27 08 1960.Google Scholar

10. Principaux discours et allocutions de S.A.R. Le Prince Norodom Sihanouk President du Sangkum Reastr Niyum 1960 (Phnom Penh), p. 35.Google Scholar

11. The juxtaposition of past and present is in the official publication Cambodge, op. cit.

Prince Sihanouk's remarks are recorded in Principaux discours et allocutions de S.A.R. Le Prince Norodom Sihanouk Président du Sangkum Reastr Niyum 1960, p. 75Google Scholar

12. Réalités Cambodgiennes, 22 01 1960.Google Scholar

13. Rӗaltiés Cambodgiennes, 28 08 1958.Google Scholar

14. Ibid., 5 April 1958. In his article “Dynamics of power in Cambodia” in Rose, S. (ed.), Politics in Southeast Asia, (London, 1963)Google Scholar P. Devillers gives some attention to the ideological basis of Cambodian Socialism and draws attention to the links presumed with the past. See pp. 160–162.

15. Finot, L.: “Les Etudes Indochinoises” in Bulletin de l'Ecole Française d'Extreme Orient, VIII, 1908, p. 224.Google Scholar

16. Groslier, B-P.: op. cit., p. 118.Google Scholar

17. Rӗalités Cambodgiennes, 4 01 1958Google Scholar. For a detailed examination of Cambodia's relations with its neighbours see Smith, R. M., Cambodia's Foreign Policy unpublished Cornell University Ph.D. thesis, 1964.Google Scholar

18. Ibid., 7 June 1958.

19. Cambodia News (Cambodian Embassy, Washington), Vol. VI, No. 2, 1963.Google Scholar

20. Ibid.

21. Cambodian Commentary (Phnom Penh), Vol. II, No. 4, 09 1963 editorial, p. 4.Google Scholar

22. These provinces are customarily referred to as Kampuchea Krom (Lower Cambodia) in contemporary Cambodia.

23. Cambodia claims that the minority group of Cambodians living in South Vietnam numbers more than 500,000. See Cochin China, Cambodian Territory (New York, n.d. 1958?)Google Scholar

24. Cambodian News (Cambodian Embassy, Canberra), Vol. IV, No. I, 1963.Google Scholar

25. Réalités Cambodgiennes, 28 08 1958.Google Scholar

26. Pelliot, P.: Mémoire sur les coutumes du Cambodge de Tcheou Ta-kouan, version nouvelle suivie d'un commentaire inachevé (Paris, 1951).Google Scholar

27. Cambodge d'Aujourd'hui, (Phnom Penh) 3rd Year, No. 1, 01 1960, p. 21.Google Scholar

28. J. Moura in Tome I of his study, op. cit., p. 220, records how none dared to help King Norodom I after that monarch was involved in a carriage accident in 1874. It was considered sacrilege to lay hands on the ruler.

29. For a general discussion of Kingship in Southeast Asia, see Heine-Geldern, R., Conceptions of State and Kingship in Southeast Asia, Cornell Southeast Asia Program Data Paper No. 18 (Ithaca, second printing, 1963).Google Scholar

30. These articles have now been consolidated into a book which is used in Cambodian Secondary Schools. Lengthy quotations from these articles appear in Armstrong, J. P., Sihanouk Speaks (New York, 1964).Google Scholar

31. Réaliés Cambodgiennes, 12 07 1958.Google Scholar

32. Réaliés Cambodgiennes, 12 07 1958.Google Scholar

33. Ibid., 12 January 1957.

34. Ibid., 24 June 1960.

35. Leclӗre, A.: Cambodge — Fetes Civiles et-Religieuses (Paris, 1916)Google Scholar has noted that the concept of royal participation in ploughing occurs in the Ramayana and in some accounts of the life of Buddha. He clearly assumes that the ceremony in Cambodia was of considerable antiquity. According to his information, Ang Duong was the last king to participate in the ceremony. King Ang Duong reign from 1841 to 1860. See also Maspero, Evelyn Porêe: Etudes sur les rites agraires des Cambodgiens, Tome II (Paris, 1964), pp. 291–296.Google Scholar

36. Réalités Cambodgiennes, 17 05 1963Google Scholar. In 1964 the ceremony was held in Takeo with Prince Sihanouk again playing the part of the ploughman.

37. Groslier, B-P., The Art of Indochina (New York, 1960), p. 236.Google Scholar

38. Réalités Cambodgiennes, 31 12 1960.Google Scholar