My dear Kacvey,

Here is a modern tale that, for a long time to come, would be told to the people of a far, far away land fanciedly called “Srè Khmoq”.

The tale is in the form of a dialog – not to be confused with the “cultured” one, please! – between 2 important folks of that land about the dynastization of Srè Khmoq:

çâm datch kuorl (çdk): Hi Yachh! What are you up to? Long time no see!

çâm duorn yachh (çdy): Howdy Kuorl! Nothing much really, just too busy paying tribute to master.

çdk: Has he been difficult or demanding? Hope he’s like Xeniades.

çdy: Who’s Xeniades?

çdk: The Corinthian who bought Diogenes.

çdy: Oh, got it; you went too far back, man! But this guy is eating too much, especially land.

çdk: How long are you going to feed him?

çdy: Forever.

çdk: Why?

çdy: Because I owe him for he’s put me in this job since 1979; he owns me.

çdk: But you don’t live forever!

çdy: That’s why I am designing a scheme to ensure that the debt is to be paid to him perpetually and eternally.

çdk: What type of scheme?

çdy: Have you recently read TCD?

çdk: Yes, I do, but I haven’t seen any scheme.

çdy: I’ve always thought you’re sharper than that!

çdk: Come on! Which article was talking about debt payment scheme?

çdy: Go and look for TCD dated 17 December 2015. If you don’t find the hard copy, google it.

çdk: O.K. I’m googling now with my cell phone.

(çdk found the article, read it and put his cell phone back in his pocket. They resumed the conversation.)

çdy: So, what do you think of the scheme?

çdk: I don’t see any write-up about any debt payment scheme, except the one about the way you want, from now on, to be addressed with a “lofty and lordly honorific title” instead of the regular, courteous and simple term of address like “Mister” or “Mr.”

çdy: Never judge a book by its cover, and in politics always learn to read between the lines. It is that gimmick that is the link to the scheme.

çdk: How so?

çdy: Let me explain. If I want to be addressed in public by the “lofty and lordly honorific title”, because I am instilling in the mind of Srè Khmoq people a concept of “sovereignty” to be attached to my name; in other words a kind of brain washing generally used by the KR when I joined them as a young man. Therefore, in the long-range, I will be going to be named/called/recognized/recorded as a “princely lord”. I am creating a perception that from here onward I am not going to be a “commoner” anymore.

çdk: But you can’t change your blood? Once a commoner in blood, always a commoner in blood!

çdy: In this game, blood is considered as non-important as nobody sees it; blood is internal, red and chemistry. Name, more precisely artificial name and artificial title, is the most important because it is external, appearance and visible; people talk about it, read about it; it signifies power. I learned the trick from the Chinese.

çdk: Chinese history?

çdy: Yes, Chinese history. You see, all the Chinese emperors who created their dynasty: Qin, Han, Sui, Tang, Yuan, Ming and Qing, they were all commoners at the outset. Once they won the war over the enemies and unified the country, they proclaimed themselves emperors with a new “name” and gave their family members imperial honorific titles. That was how the Chinese dynasties came to exist and each one lasted hundreds of years. I learned about this because I have some Chinese blood in my vein.

çdk: You confused me?

çdy: I celebrate the Chinese New Year; I use the “red envelope”; I observe the “tomb sweeping” rite on 4 April; I burn golden paper money …

çdk: So you want to build a dynastic legacy for your off-springs?

çdy: You’re a quick learner. Not only I want to, but I am doing it! That’s why I am grooming my off-springs and positioning members of my clan in every position of the administration.

çdk: So, when you’re gone, your “dauphin” will continue your legacy, including paying the debt to the master, right?

çdy: Right on! You see, nothing is free in this world. This dynastization takes a lot out of me, but I am determined to see it through. (see Update below)

çdk: At what cost?

çdy: To me, it costs nothing. I do it for my name in the history book of Srè Khmoq.

çdk: But when your master eat all the land of Srè Khmoq, what would happen to its people?

çdy: I don’t run Srè Khmoq in my after-life.

çdk: Why, then, do you do it now?

çdy: I am not new in inventing this scheme. I just follow the historical path. Sdach Kân did it long before me.

çdk: So, your master must be elated.

çdy: If I can keep him happy with my astuteness, the rest is child play.

*****

Update on 1 January 2016:

An article fro the Cambodia Daily: Hun Many Says Goal Is to Be Prime Minister

https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-many-says-goal-is-to-be-prime-minister-104231/