The King Awakes

Lord Tennyson, looking for his imaginary land of the "mild-eyed, melancholy Lotos-eaters," might as easily have slung his hammock among the easygoing, soft-spoken people of Cambodia, smallest of French IndoChina's three Associated States (Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos), a kingdom watered by great slow rivers and sheltered by towering mountains.

Last week Cambodia's lingering peace was being disturbed by the trailblazers of Communism, filtering across its eastern marchlands from Red-infested Viet Nam, raiding its villages, waylaying its merchants and preaching revolt in the Royal Khmer (i.e., Cambodian) army. The Reds posed as patriots, burning to liberate Cambodia from French imperialism; in fact they were the vanguard of an uglier imperialism: Communist China's. Waist-deep in swamp and jungle fighting in the Red River delta, the French could do little to defend their Cambodian proteges from Communist attack. Instead, the 3,000,000 Cambodians relied on their monarch, 29-year-old King Norodom Sihanouk.

First Things First. The King sits in his countinghouse in the many-templed Cambodian capital of Pnompenh (pop. 260,000), which a TIME correspondent visited last week. He had just sacked his Premier, Huy Kanthoul, for failing to put first things first, i.e., to get rid of Communism before getting rid of the French. Norodom shrewdly recognizes that an "independent" Cambodia would be a free gift to the Communists, if the French marched out. Last month he dismissed his nationalistic cabinet and took charge of the kingdom himself. His cabinet of princes (TIME, June 23), he announced, would stay in office for the next three years.

The King* succeeded his grandfather, King Sisowath II, in 1941. The Japanese army which occupied Pnompenh, kept its royal prisoner in his gilded cage; real power in Cambodia was exercised by a shifty-eyed demagogue and Japanese puppet named Son Ngoc Thanh. After V-J day, Puppet Son Ngoc Thanh was sent to jail in France; the King enrolled as a student officer (honorary rank: brigadier general) at the French army's school of cavalry and armor. His Majesty was a brilliant student. He returned to his people in 1947 an excellent horseman, an accomplished linguist and an enthusiastic driver of fast sport cars.

Three Months of Begging. Sixty-five thousand saffron-robed bonzes (Buddhist priests) and the 12,000-man Khmer army welcomed him home. Dutifully he shaved his head and begged for his living for three months as custom prescribed. But the King was determined to emancipate Cambodia from the semifeudal monarchy under which it had slumbered for centuries. He pushed through a program of constitutional reforms which transformed his kingdom from an absolute into a parliamentary monarchy under French protection. Cambodians freely elected their own 75-man National Assembly.

The King stepped out of active politics and devoted his time to racing his 20 thoroughbreds, swimming in the palace pool, playing Monopoly with his friends and producing such slapstick comedies as Two Murders in the Maginot Line. As a special treat for visiting VIPs, His Majesty plays one of his own compositions (e.g., Love Without Hope) on the alto sax, accompanied by his private jazzband.

Bloodless Coup. Communist plots soon took away the King's fun. Pardoned by the French, Son Ngoc Thanh returned to Pnompenh. His Pnompenh newspaper, Khmer People Awake, sowed disaffection in the royal army. Viet Minh Communist battalions, 10,000 strong, skirmished along Cambodia's borders, and Son Ngoc Thanh cheered them on. Suddenly last month the King reacted. He closed down Khmer People Awake. Son Ngoc Thanh ducked off to join a band of Red guerrillas.

The King's resumption of power has gone off bloodlessly. Norodom I's way of life has changed. Gone are the days of fast cars and jazzbands. Working against time to strengthen Cambodia's army, its economy and its morale against a Communist onslaught, the young King laments: "I can't get home in time for lunch."

*Full name and title: Preah Bat Samdach Preah Norodom Sihanouk Varman Reach Hari-vong Uphato Sucheat Visothipong Akamohaboras Rat Nikarodom Mohareacheathireach Baromaneat Baromabopit Preah Chau Anachak Kampuchea.

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