by Guest9999 » Mon Nov 29, 2021 1:15 am
Condolences to his family.
Even though border camp returnees were but a tiny fraction of the electorate, Prince Ranariddh was the unequivocal winner of the 1993 UNTAC election. So that is something good, a lot of people believed in him.
However, he could never effectively control his party, they were very quickly at least as corrupt as those under the other guy. Indeed, it felt worse, because whatever one asked or paid, his party could not deliver. It isn't fair to put all this on him, UNTAC never disarmed the pre-Paris accord combatants, and the other guy kept the most guns, but as early as mid- '94 almost everyone, friend and foe alike, gave a little, ironic, smile when they said, 'First' PM. (Post coup and before the '98 elections, this became simply ridiculous.)
I heard a few election speeches in '98, and he had a good chunk of the crowd with him. However to me, he didn't seem a great politician. Of course many great politicians are not great humans. Perhaps it was his humanity, rather than brute power, that held his true supporters close?
The end of the Khmer Rouge as a political and military force would have also been quite different without him. For example, the other guy might not have been so proud to host Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary at the beach, or at least it wouldn't have happened so early, saving many, many Khmer lives in Dry Season Offences and Wet Season guerrilla attacks.
I am keen to read some more professional biographies and assessments.
Condolences to his family.
Even though border camp returnees were but a tiny fraction of the electorate, Prince Ranariddh was the unequivocal winner of the 1993 UNTAC election. So that is something good, a lot of people believed in him.
However, he could never effectively control his party, they were very quickly at least as corrupt as those under the other guy. Indeed, it felt worse, because whatever one asked or paid, his party could not deliver. It isn't fair to put all this on him, UNTAC never disarmed the pre-Paris accord combatants, and the other guy kept the most guns, but as early as mid- '94 almost everyone, friend and foe alike, gave a little, ironic, smile when they said, 'First' PM. (Post coup and before the '98 elections, this became simply ridiculous.)
I heard a few election speeches in '98, and he had a good chunk of the crowd with him. However to me, he didn't seem a great politician. Of course many great politicians are not great humans. Perhaps it was his humanity, rather than brute power, that held his true supporters close?
The end of the Khmer Rouge as a political and military force would have also been quite different without him. For example, the other guy might not have been so proud to host Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary at the beach, or at least it wouldn't have happened so early, saving many, many Khmer lives in Dry Season Offences and Wet Season guerrilla attacks.
I am keen to read some more professional biographies and assessments.