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/