The chariot
carrying the portrait of late former King Norodom Sihanouk leads his
royal funeral procession Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Thousands of mourners accompanied a gilded chariot carrying the body of
former King Sihanouk - the dominant figure of modern Cambodia - in a
funeral procession Friday to a cremation ground next to the palace where
he was crowned more than 70 years ago.
Denis D. Gray
Phnom Penh, Cambodia (AP) - Hundreds of thousands of mourners
gathered in Cambodia’s capital Monday for the cremation of former King
Norodom Sihanouk, the revered “King-Father,” who survived wars and the
murderous Khmer Rouge regime to hold center stage in the Southeast Asian
nation for more than half a century.
Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, center
right, son of the late King Norodom Sihanouk, and his mother, Queen
Norodom Monineath, center left, with Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen,
covering his mouth, leave the crematorium where the body of the late
former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk rests in Phnom Penh, Monday, Feb.
4. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
Cambodians from across the country flocked to Phnom
Penh to pay their last respects as Sihanouk was given elaborate funeral
rites - mingling Hindu, Buddhist and animist traditions - last seen 53
years ago with the death of Sihanouk’s father, King Norodom Suramarit.
And they may never be seen again in a rapidly modernizing country where
the monarchy has lost much of its power and glamor.
After sunset, Sihanouk’s son King Norodom Sihamoni and widow, Queen
Mother Norodom Monineath, both weeping, ignited the funeral pyre inside
a temple-like, 15-story-high crematorium. Howitzers fired salvos as
fireworks lit up the sky.
Fireworks explode at the site of cremation
for Cambodia’s former King Norodom Sihanouk in Phnom Penh. (AP
Photo/Heng Sinith)
“I would exchange my life for his if he could live
because he was a great leader who brought peace, prosperity for the
whole nation,” said Pal Hor, an ailing, 64-year-old man who had come
from the distant province of Battambang. He said he shaved his head out
of reverence for the deceased monarch.
After the cremation, Sihamoni handed out gifts to some 400 prisoners he
had earlier pardoned as part of the mourning for his father, who he said
was “in heaven, near the Lord Buddha, forever.”
“May the much revered king support and protect the entire Kingdom of
Cambodia and Cambodians forever,” he said.
Fireworks explode next to a poster of
Cambodia’s former King Norodom Sihanouk as his body is cremated in Phnom
Penh. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
The cremation took place within a walled compound
where 90 Buddhist monks - one for each year of Sihanouk’s life as
counted by Cambodians - chanted around the flower-decked, gilt coffin.
Only the country’s elite and foreign dignitaries were allowed inside the
cremation ground, along with courtiers dressed in pantaloons and
soldiers in 19th century-style uniforms with spiked helmets and swords.
The $1.2 million crematorium, built just for this funeral, will be
dismantled in keeping with Cambodian tradition.
Sihanouk’s body had been lying in state since he died of a heart attack
in Beijing on Oct. 15 at the age of 89.
Fireworks and smoke surround the crematorium
site where Cambodia’s former King Norodom Sihanouk rests, in Phnom Penh.
(AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
The cremation was the climax of seven days of
official mourning for Sihanouk, who was placed on the throne by the
French as a teenager. Instead of proving the puppet the colonials had
hoped for, Sihanouk went on to win independence, then rule the country
both as monarch and head of state until ousted in a 1970 coup.
Internationally, he was a leading member of the non-aligned movement and
heightened his small country’s profile in the world.
A charismatic figure regarded as a “God-King” by many of his subjects, a
prideful Sihanouk sided with the Khmer Rouge against the U.S.-backed
government, but after the victory of the ultra-communists in 1975, he
and his wife were held prisoners in the palace. Five of his children
died during the reign of terror.
Fireworks and smoke surround the crematorium
site where Cambodia’s former King Norodom Sihanouk rests, in Phnom Penh.
(AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
A consummate survivor, Sihanouk emerged as a leader
of an insurgency fighting a Phnom Penh government installed by the
Vietnamese and went on to broker a peace accord that enabled his return
to the throne in 1993. He abdicated 11 years later in favor of Sihamoni,
a 59-year-old former ballet dancer who had spent most of his life in
European artistic circles and has proven a low-keyed constitutional
monarch overshadowed by strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Sihanouk’s dark side, particularly his cooperation with the Khmer Rouge
and his often brutal suppression of dissent, has been publicly ignored
as loudspeakers broadcast eulogies and television stations show old
clips of Sihanouk’s triumphs and ebullient personality.
The chariot carrying the casket of
Cambodia’s late former King Norodom Sihanouk leads the funeral
procession in Phnom Penh, Friday, Feb. 1. Norodom Chakrapong, brother of
Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, is seen at third right at the
chariot.(AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
A larger-than-life character, Sihanouk directed
films, composed music and led his own jazz band and palace soccer team.
His appetite extended to fast cars, food and women, marrying at least
five times, some say six, and fathering 14 children.
In the coming days, some of Sihanouk’s ashes will be scattered near the
confluence of the four rivers in Phnom Penh, while others will be put in
an urn which, according to his wishes, will be placed on the grounds of
the Royal Palace near those of his favorite daughter, Kunthea Buppha,
who died at the age of 3.
The funeral is being attended by French Prime Minister Jean-Marc
Ayrault, Prince Akishino of Japan, leaders of neighboring countries and
China’s Jia Qinglin, a senior government adviser and former high-ranking
Politburo member.
Thousands of mourners gather at the Royal
Palace and wait in line to pay their respects in Phnom Penh, Saturday,
Feb. 2. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
Representing the United States is Ambassador William
E. Todd. The U.S. Embassy did not directly respond to explain such a
relatively low-level representation given the long U.S. involvement in
Cambodia.
Many Cambodians were upset when President Barack Obama was one of the
only leaders attending a regional summit here in November not to pay his
respects before Sihanouk’s body. The president had a reportedly tense
meeting with Hun Sen at the time, with Obama pressing him on Cambodia’s
worsening human rights record.
The royal guards on the chariot accompany
the casket of Cambodia’s late former King Norodom Sihanouk in a funeral
procession in Phnom Penh, Friday, Feb. 1. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
