CAMBODIA: Partial Paralysis

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When he returned to Cambodia two weeks ago from Honolulu, where he had been under treatment for the stroke that immobilized him last February, Premier Lon Nol was still a long way from complete recovery. He seemed weak in body and in spirit, had only limited use of his left arm. dragged his left leg as he walked, and occasionally slurred his words as he spoke. Even so, there was little to foreshadow the crisis that beset Phnom-Penh last week, leaving the government—like Lon Nol himself—in a state of partial paralysis.

The crisis began on his seventh day back in the capital, when Lon Nol abruptly resigned. In bewilderingly rapid order he was 1) acclaimed an official "national hero" by the legislature, 2) made Cambodia's first marshal of the army, and 3) entreated by Chief of State Cheng Heng to reconsider his resignation in view of the country's "grave circumstances" and form a new government. At week's end, Lon Nol was reported ready to accept the invitation.

Like a Copilot. But what did it all mean? Lon Nol had reason enough to claim "ill health"; in addition to the lingering effects of his stroke, he suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure. But his short-lived resignation was also designed to deal with a governmental malaise. While the Premier was away, a bitter struggle flared between his two closest advisers: his brother Lieut. Colonel Lon Non, who commands a Cambodian army brigade, and Vice Premier Sisowath Sirik Matak, a shrewd administrator who is said to be "like a copilot" to Lon Nol.

Evidently, the only solution was a complete shake-up of the government. When it is all over, Lon Nol is expected to resume his premiership and redistribute the machinery of power among three Vice Premiers (two of them newly created) and a thoroughly overhauled Cabinet.

Many Cambodians would applaud. The somewhat mystical Premier has succeeded admirably in unifying the country, but students, intellectuals and other early supporters of the regime are beginning to complain of drift and disorganization. The government is just barely holding its own against the 50,000 Communist troops in Cambodia, and it is slowly losing ground in its struggle against inflation and other symptoms of war. Lately, stories of indolence and corruption in the Cabinet have been circulating in the capital. Crisis or no, it was, as one Western diplomat put it, "a good time to change the government."