"I thank you for insulting me."
Thus blogged former King Norodom Sihanouk to a critic of his support of gay marriage.
He didn't share any of the insulting e-mails with his readers, but noted: "My country, Cambodia, has chosen to be a liberal democracy since 1993. Every Cambodian ... including the King has the right to express freely their view."
It was one of thousands of commentaries that fill the Web site of the world's most colorful and pugnacious royal blogger, offering Sihanouk's views on anything from environmental rape through Hollywood stars and killer spouses to the rough-and-tumble of Cambodian politics.
During the Vietnam War Sihanouk was such a nuisance to Washington that he was ousted in a US-supported coup. He backed the Khmer Rouge until its murderous regime turned on him and put him under house arrest.
Today at 82, he is Cambodia's lion in winter, cancer-stricken and undergoing treatment in China, his former place of exile where he still has a home. For at least three years he has been posting his opinions, historical documents and exchanges with diplomats or Cambodian politicians. He abdicated in favor of his son Sihamoni last fall.
Sihanouk's Web site incorporates his blog in French, Khmer or English, attracts about 1,000 visitors daily from around the world. After serving as king, president and prime minister at various times, he now calls himself "a senior citizen who hasn't any official power," but his views remain relevant enough to be summarized in the Cambodian press for the benefit of the many Cambodians who are too poor to have access to the Internet.
Sihanouk has always seen himself as a communicator and a trendsetter. He has been a moviemaker, painter, composer and singer, has led a jazz band and fielded a palace soccer team.
After the 2003 national elections, he described the losses suffered by Funcinpec -- a party led by one of his sons -- as "shameful," comparing it to Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.
Then there's Sihanouk waxing nostalgic for Ken Maynard, a Hollywood star in the 1920s and '30s. He "was my idol as a cowboy `dispenser of justice.' He had an incomparably beautiful `white' horse who was as intelligent as a man and behaved like an angel."
He never missed a Maynard movie in Phnom Penh, and when his father bought him two horses, "I could practice horse riding `a la cowboy.'"
Sihanouk often lets fly with his own views on Cambodia's social ills -- illegal logging that threatens to turn the country into a "tiny Sahara without oil," the trafficking of Cambodian women for prostitution in other Asian countries where they "suffer, are humiliated," their impoverished parents helpless to intervene.
After watching TV images of gay weddings in San Francisco in February 2004, he wrote that Cambodia should do the same, never expecting that his input "would become the source of endless `earthquakes' throughout the world."
Sihanouk's missives also shed light on his personal life, including what he says are his numerous wives, though that was in the 1940s, when "my love life was somewhat ... stormy. But I became monogamist a long time ago." He has been married to former Queen Monineath for more than 50 years.
He recently blogged that his cancer has re-emerged from remission: "Maybe I am already dead. But I will continue to believe that I am alive."
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including