Norodom Siamooni

The 4th and current king of Cambodia .

He is the son of King Norodom Sihanouk . He was very interested in ballet , opera , and the arts from a young age and was talented, so he lived in the Czech Republic and France for decades, but after King Sihanouk's abdication , he was forcibly brought to Cambodia by Prime Minister Hun Sen and ascended the throne. He continues to reign as king and lives as a puppet monarch without real power. However, regardless of whether he is a scarecrow or not, he is popular among the people thanks to his humble, quiet personality, and caring side, and is used as a symbol of national unity.

King Norodom Siamoni's official titles are:

The meaning of this long name is "King Norodom Siamoni, a benevolent and excellent monarch and protector who unites the ethnicity, religion, territory, and people of the Khmer nation; a great king under the protection of Buddha and Indra ; protector of independence, unity, and peace; the great king of the Kingdom of Cambodia." If you unpack each word, you will get the following interpretation.


There is also an abbreviated title: "His Majesty Preah Bat Samdekh Preah Boromneat Norodom Siamoni, King of the Kingdom of Cambodia" Let's go! It is called " The title “Preah Sriloka Dhamika Raja (ព្រះស្រីលោកធម្មិករាជ)”, or “virtuous king for spreading Buddhism throughout the world,” was given to King Siamoni at the 6th Buddhist Summit in December 2014. It exists. In addition, he also holds the title of Supreme Commander of the Royal Khmer Army. Of course, it's just a scarecrow.

Siamoni died in Cambodia on Thursday, May 14, 1953, when Cambodia was still a French protectorate . Born in Phnom Penh .[2] His name 'Siamoni' is derived from the names of his parents 'Sihanouk' and 'Moniniat'.[3] Each morpheme was taken from . The surname 'Norodom' is derived from the Pali and Prakrit words 'Narotam', which means "the best of men."

Siamoni, who was a prince at the time, began his education in 1959 by attending Norodom School and Descartes High School in Phnom Penh and showed a keen interest in art from an early age. In 1962, according to his father's wishes, Czechoslovakia He went to study abroad in Prague , where he completed his initial education at Mayakovsky Elementary School and Ostrovny Elementary School. Just before adolescence, he appeared in a performance of Tchaikovsky 's The Nutcracker at the National Theater in Prague, took private ballet and piano lessons, and was selected for the television version of the famous children's opera Brundivar. Afterwards, his artistic talent blossomed as he completed his secondary education at the Prague National Conservatory with excellent grades, close to the top of his class. Having lived in the Czech Republic since childhood, he became very fluent in the Czech language , and thanks to this, in 1967, director Vladimir Sis filmed the film The Other Little Prince (Jiný malý princ) about him in Prague.

The prince often visited Cambodia during vacations and actively participated in cultural and artistic activities, such as appearing in films produced by his father or performing ballet performances. Even when Sihanouk was removed from power in a coup led by Lon Nol in 1970 , the Khmer Republic was declared, and the Cambodian civil war intensified, Siamonny was able to avoid the devastation by staying in Czechoslovakia. From 1971 to 1975, he completed his higher education at the Prague Academy of Performing Arts, majoring in classical dance and music, and received a master's degree with a thesis titled “Conception and Administration of the Cambodian School of Arts.” After graduating in 1975, he left Prague and moved to North Korea. He moved to Pyongyang and studied film production.[4]

The situation changed rapidly on April 17, 1975, when the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh and established Democratic Kampuchea . The following year, in 1976, Siamoni was tricked by the Khmer Rouge into sending a forged order from King Sihanouk and was forced to return to Cambodia. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime, which hated the monarchy, never looked kindly on the old royal family, and placed the royal family, including Siamoni, his younger brother Prince Narindrapong, his mother Queen Moniniat, and his father King Sihanouk, under house arrest in the royal palace. In the ensuing massacre in Cambodia, many collateral royal family members died, and Siamoni and his immediate family had to live in fear for their lives every day, completely cut off from the outside world. During their time under house arrest, royals were not allowed to contact anyone or even have employees. Khmer Rouge soldiers rationed rice and fish only twice a week, and the royal family had to secure their own food shortages by farming in the palace garden.[5]

When the Khmer Rouge was ousted in the Cambodia-Vietnam War in 1979 and the People's Republic of Kampuchea, a puppet regime in Vietnam , was established, the royal family fled to China by plane with the help of the Chinese government. Afterwards, Siamoni worked as a secretary to his father, who was leading the resistance movement against Vietnamese occupation.

In 1981, she quit her job as a secretary and moved to France to teach ballet . He served as a professor of classical dance and art education for about 20 years at the Marius Petipa Conservatory, the Gabriel Faure Conservatory, and the WA Mozart Conservatory. While living in France, he founded the creative dance company 'Ballet Deva' and served as general manager and artistic director. He also served as the head of the Royal Khmer Film Company. In particular, he paid attention to the reality that men mainly play supporting roles in traditional Khmer dance, and tried to provide opportunities for male dancers to stand out. He continued to work as an artist, such as by creating the unique ballet work “Duel” inspired by Russian ballet.

Prince Siamoni spent a happy 20 years in France, often visiting Prague , where he had childhood memories , but returned to politics in 1992 when he was elected as Cambodia's permanent representative to the United Nations. The following year, when Sihanouk was reinstated as king and the monarchy was restored, the prince was appointed as Cambodia's permanent representative to UNESCO in Paris and promoted Cambodian culture.[6] In October 2003, he was additionally appointed as an advisor to the Privy Council of King Norodom Sihanouk.

However, King Norodom Sihanouk announced his intention to abdicate in 2004, and on October 7, 2004, a situation occurred where the royal council nominated Prince Siamoni as the next king, beating his living brothers ( Norodom Ranariddh and Chakrapong). Hun Sen , who had already ousted his older brother Norodom Ranariddh (who was first prime minister at the time), took control of state affairs.[7] The royal family is nothing more than a puppet, so if Siamoni becomes king, he will live the rest of his life locked in the palace and under surveillance, so he refuses to inherit the throne . A sit-in protest took place in Beijing .

However, under pressure to maintain his father's monarchy, he reluctantly returned to Cambodia, welcomed by 100,000 Phnom Penh citizens, and became the next king, under the condition that the coronation ceremony be not extravagant.[8] , In the end, he was trapped in the royal palace for the rest of his life and lives a life of surveillance to this day, visiting occasionally to approve documents and meet guests. They sometimes participate in foreign events, such as the coronation ceremony of Naruhito Tenno in Japan , which is also a constitutional monarchy .

In 2005, the Hun Sen regime tried to sign a border treaty with Vietnam , but the problem was that this treaty was based on the border right after the Vietnamese army drove out the Khmer Rouge and established the People's Republic of Kampuchea in 1985 , so it was controversial, with part of Cambodian territory being transferred to Vietnamese territory. Naturally, King Siamoni did not want to ratify the treaty, but he eventually surrendered after threatening to abolish the monarchy if Prime Minister Hun Sen did not sign it .[9]

Although he is only a puppet of the Hun Sen and Hun Manet families, the king is personally very popular with the people due to his humble, quiet appearance and gentle nature. In contrast to the reigning style of the late King Norodom Sihanouk , who was capricious and outspoken without knowing where he would go, he was evaluated to have followed a completely quiet path like a shadow. In fact, all power lies with Hun Sen and the military, so there is nothing they can do in the first place. Prime Minister Hun Sen naturally praises the king as a great face, calling him a 'symbol of national unity and prosperity', and Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy[10] They are also favorable to the king, saying it is a symbol of national unity. Of course, he also criticizes King Siamoni when he plays a role in establishing the legitimacy of the Hun Sen regime.

King Siamoni's birthday, May 14, and his coronation anniversary, October 29, are both annual legal holidays in Cambodia. King Siamoni's portrait is also widely used as the design on the 200, 500, 2,000, 10,000, 20,000, and 100,000 riel banknotes, and in 2019, a special commemorative limited edition banknote of 15,000 riel was issued to celebrate and pay tribute to the 15th anniversary of his accession to the throne. It is easy to see his portrait hanging in large quantities along with the portraits of the late King Norodom Sihanouk and the Queen Mother throughout Cambodia .