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Good Subversion. All the while, Sihanouk moved shrewdly to make himself a people's prince. In 1955 he dramatically abdicated the throne and became Premier and later Chief of State. Said he: "I want to show that I do not cling to power, authority and privileges. As King, I only saw the flowers and heard the lies."
Sihanouk maintains a political party, the People's Socialist Community, which unsurprisingly holds all 91 seats in the National Assembly. In his ceaseless inspection tours, he is bouncy and ebullient. A shrewd politician, he likes to address crowds after "giving something to the people"; this he calls "good subversion." In speeches, he is apt to tell his audiences anything that comes to his mind, including information given him in confidence by foreign diplomats, convulses his listeners with bawdy jokes. In the words of one recent Western visitor, the Cambodians "have to laugh every two minutes or they get restive."
Papa Knows Best. To popularize manual labor in his lackadaisical land, the Prince, clad in black shorts and T shirt, wields pick and shovel in one-day stints on public works projects. The gesture is more than symbolic, for Sihanouk digs harder than any coolie and expects his entourage, usually including the diplomatic corps, to do likewise. He has a passion for details; once, before a palace banquet for visiting Princess Alexandra of Great Britain, the Prince was seen giving the silverware a last-minute polish. Another time, just before dedication ceremonies for the U.S.-built "Friendship Highway," Sihanouk ordered his Minister of Public Works to drive 125 miles to the port of Sihanoukville and flush all the toilets in a temporary rest house, to make sure that the modern facilities were in working order for the guests.
Naturally Sihanouk has jailed or exiled some of his opposition, but he has also brought opponents into the government. He denounces Cambodian Communist leaders as "valets and bloodsuckers." A much more serious threat than the native Communists is the Communist-infiltrated Chinese community, which Sihanouk is careful to leave alone. Economically, fertile Cambodia has not yet been hurt by the shutoff of American aid ($30 million a year) or by Sihanouk's own statist policies. He has organized peasant cooperatives, nationalized imports and exports, but claims in inimitable fashion that his Socialism is based not on Marx but on Buddha.
Says Sihanouk: "My people want me to be responsible for everything. They say, 'Papa, Papa, you must give us electricity and water.' They say, 'Papa, I cannot sleep. You must make me sleep.' " It was told of the legendary Laotian half-god, Prince Betsardh, that he could order the crocodiles back into their holes to make the rivers safe. Says Sihanouk ironically: "Well, of course, I can do the same."