Breaking from tradition, King Norodom Sihamoni in his first Khmer New Year as reigning monarch had no new year’s eve message for the country on Wednesday.
In his place, CPP and Senate President Chea Sim issued a televised statement to the nation. Chea Sim, whom CPP officials have said is in ill health, did not present the statement himself. Instead, his words of greeting, “Suorsdei chhnam thmei,” were read out by a broadcaster on state-run TVK.
Over the past year, “we managed to resolve all [political] disputes and maintain the stability conducive to the creation of the new government led by the prime minister,” Chea Sim’s statement read.
In the coming Year of the Rooster, he called for national unity, reform and better relations with friendly countries.
Palace officials said Thursday that King Sihamoni would not have a message to the nation, though they would not elaborate why.
According to political analyst Lao Mong Hay, of the Center for Social Development, “It is quite unusual that we have not heard the new King’s message to the nation.
“And that Chea Sim did not speak by himself, maybe it shows he is as ill as people have said,” he added.
Chea Sim’s health has been questioned in recent weeks, as the Senate president failed to greet a visiting Vietnamese delegation last month, and Burmese Prime Minister Lieutenant General Soe Win last week.
In previous years, retired King Norodom Sihanouk’s appearance on television to deliver a speech to the country has become something of a custom on the eve of the new year, as the Devada—the Khmer deity—arrives. But, this year, he too remained quiet. Norodom Sihanouk’s silence extended even to his Web site; by Thursday, the first day of the new year, the retired King had posted no new year’s greeting on the Internet.
Khek Vandy, a Funcinpec lawmaker close to the Palace, said royal officials were scheduled to hold a reception at the Royal Palace Saturday night. He did not explain the unusual silence from King Sihamoni and Norodom Sihanouk this year.
Prime Minister Hun Sen in recent weeks has been candid in his criticisms over those close to the retired King. He has blasted Norodom Sihanouk’s Sangkum Reastr Niyum regime of the 1950s and 1960s, and has publicly suggested that the retired King’s pen pal and alter-ego Ruom Ritt would be better off dead.
The prime minister has also criticized Norodom Sihanouk’s former secretary Prince Sisowath Thomico and his biographer Julio Jeldres.
Asked why Chea Sim and King Sihamoni did not appear on state television this year, Hun Sen’s advisor Om Yentieng said Thursday he did not know.
“I don’t know about this. I just returned from outside,” he said.
