C ambodia's Royal treasury, once a priceless collection of ceremonial artifacts, many
handed down from the Angkorian Kingdom, was plundered and looted during the war years.
Despite a recent war of words between King Norodom Sihanouk and a former republican
official over who was responsible for that plunder, the mystery of the Royal collection
remains unsolved.
Former Lon Nol official Ngan Sethy, also known as Norotin Rithiya, alleged in
early May that some of the treasures had been delivered to King Sihanouk abroad,
after he was forced from power in 1970 coup, and implied that the King may have sold
them.
But under threat of legal action from the King, Rithiya has now withdrawn that claim,
and the King, after originally vowing to drag Rithiya through court for defamation,
now appears to have back down.
Sihanouk's attorney, Bar Association president Say Bory, said in a June 5 statement
that the King has agreed "to postpone" the defamation case against Rithiya,
a former military official and popular 1960's film actor.
At the eye of the storm is the whereabouts of the center piece of Cambodia's Royal
collection, the ceremonial sword (Preah Khan Reach), a priceless pearl and gold encrusted
weapon, which according to traditional beliefs had been handed down from the Hindu
god, Indra.
Used to coronate Cambodian Kings since probably the 13th or 16th century, according
to historians, the sword's existence is believed to ensure the safety and prosperity
of the Kingdom.
It was removed for the first time during a 19th century Siamese invasion, when it
was reportedly taken to Bangkok but was returned for the coronation of King Norondom
in 1854.
For centuries guarded by the Bakus, or Brahmin priest of the Royal Palace, eyewitnesses
said the sword was on display when Lon Nol's republican regime threw open the Royal
Palace museums to the public in 1970, after Sihanouk's overthrow.
But it has not been seen in public since, according to independent sources.
The saga of the missing sword was revived by a May 10 article in the Kampuchea
Tgnai Ngi newspaper, in which Rithiya claimed that a Royal family member in 1971
delivered the Royal sword and a priceless diamond studded crown to Sihanouk and the
Queen mother in China, where they were living in exile.
"I know the Royal crown was taken to Beijing and that at least one diamond was
taken out of it for sale," alleged Rithiya, who implied that Sihanouk had sold
off royal artifacts to cover gambling debts.
Sihanouk, who was out of the country on an official visit to Moscow at the time
he was toppled by Lon Nol responded by saying that he has not laid eyes on either
the sword or crown since he departed Phnom Penh in early 1970.
" These 'Khmer Republicans' had possession of the Royal crown and the sacred
sword, as well as all the treasures of the King and Queen at the Royal Palace, Royal
museum and Sihanouk's museum," the king wrote in his bi-monthly bulletin.
"The removal of the sacred sword means the death of the Monarchy regime according
to Cambodian traditional beliefs," he added.
A Royal family member in Phnom Penh said rumors during the Khmer Rouge period, which
followed the war chaos of the republican years, were that the radical Maoist rebels
had buried and hidden the Royal treasures.
"Straight after the coup, the Royal Palace was sealed off and unscrupulous people
may have at that stage removed the royal collections for sale abroad and later blamed
the King," said the Royal family member.
"We heard at the time that a statue of Sihanouk's father from Wat Phnom Penh
had been sold to Hong Kong and that later the Khmer Rouge buried Royal valuables
out on the road to the airport."
Whatever the fate of the Royal treasury, the King has now been partly pacified by
a published clarification from Rithiya, which places the blame for the Royal sword's
disappearance on to a former prime minister of the republican regime, In Tam.
"In Tam followed the King's mother to southern China, under orders from Marshall
Lon Nol, and he [In Tam] is the man who took the sacred sword from Cambodia, not
King Sihanouk," said Rithiya in his clarification.
He said it was common knowledge the Royal crown, had not in fact been delivered to
the King, but had been taken from the Royal family by a mafia leader "Ms Chhou
who had melted it down and sold the gold for an unknown price"
Royal Palace officials declined to comment on how much of the Royal treasury has
been salavaged from the war years, but collection do remain in the palace's two museums.
