Cambodia: The Politics of Accommodation

Abstract

The general pattern of politics, both domestic and international, of 19621 has continued without significant change in Cambodia in 1963. There has been no indication of any shift in the locus of power; and the political arena is still dominated by the colorful ex-monarch, who is the key actor in Cambodian affairs. His principal lines of action remain to preserve national unity, to speed economic development, and to avoid giving offense to the power whose presence casts a shadow over the whole of Southeast Asia. Domestic Affairs. It was asserted with confidence at the beginning of the year that no alarming developments could take place internally if, externally, the necessary conditions for Cambodia's survival as an independent and sovereign state were not disturbed.2 Such an unexceptionable assertion should, however, be considered in the of one episode which Prince Sihanouk was later to describe euphemistically as a light bout of fever. In February, while Prince Sihanouk was visiting the Chinese People's Republic, secondary schoolboys clashed with police at the tourist center of Siem Reap. The result was at least two dead and several injured. The official account relates that a policeman had boxed the ears of a schoolboy-his nephew. The following day another schoolboy was found murdered. These separate incidents were allegedly exploited by anti-government elements; and a demonstration of unparalleled violence occurred in which the police station was overrun and ransacked, while photographs of the head of state, Prince Sihanouk, were torn down and trodden into the ground. At the same time the fury of the demonstrators was directed against Sangkum Reastre Niyum, the mass movement headed by the Prince, which was decried as rotten. Significantly, all schools and colleges in the province and in Battambang to the west were circulated with calls for solidarity with the students of Siem Reap. The sequel to these happenings came soon after Prince Sihanouk's return in March. A crisis was reported in the Cabinet arising out of differences between the head of state and certain ministers responsible for