Retired King Norodom Sihanouk has reiterated his request that portraits of the royal couple be removed from public places and claimed that his resignation from the Supreme National Council on Border Affairs was not the result of alleged tension between himself and Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Hun Sen in a speech Monday morning pushed for Cambodia to maintain the status quo vis-a-vis royal portraiture and suggested that King Norodom Sihamoni handpick a successor for the council. He, too, claimed there had never been any rift between himself and the retired king.
“Countries that have kings have the habit of posting only pictures of the reigning king,” the retired monarch wrote in a fax received late Sunday. But, he added, “[It] is up to King Norodom Sihamoni, the nation and the people to decide.”
Norodom Sihanouk also wrote that his decision to resign from the border council was based on principle, not on personal reasons.
“The president and members of the Supreme National Council on Border Affairs have no power at all to solve Cambodia’s border issues,” he said, citing a royal decree giving Hun Sen sole authority on border issues. The retired king added that because he had resigned as monarch he should no longer hold office.
“The accusation that I have a dispute with Samdech Hun Sen is not true,” the retired king claimed.
Hun Sen said in his speech that he had written a letter to King Sihamoni requesting that he pick a successor to chair the council.
Hun Sen denied ever having bad relations with Norodom Sihanouk and said the supreme council and the government’s border committees had never clashed.
“Even the duties [of the border committees] don’t have disputes with each other,” he claimed.
(By Prak Chan Thul, Michael Cowden and Kim Chan)
