ABSTRACT
As it is safely assumed that Sihanouk was the object of Hem Chieu's ire, this chapter seeks to discover why the prominent Theravada monk was so bitterly opposed to his rule, and whether this attitude was shared with other members of the sangha. It also argues that the events of 1942 would have a lasting impact on the development of the Cambodian polity, to such an extent that Hem Chieu's latent Buddhist republicanism would crystallize in the formation of the Khmer Republic. As one of Lvi Em's most celebrated students, and as a monk naturally in sympathy with Monireth, Khieu Chum would in time become the most powerful and explicit champion of the Wat Langka line. Republicanism as a political ideology is notoriously difficult to define but there can be little argument that it stands opposed to imperial and monarchical conceptions of political order.
