(15 Oct 2012) SHOTLIST
QUALITY AS INCOMING
1. Various of streets in Phnom Penh with Cambodian flags at half mast
2. SOUNDBITE (Khmer) Pouch Pang, Phnom Penh resident:
"I felt so sad and scared when I heard the news of our King's death. I hope he rests in peace."
3. SOUNDBITE (Khmer) Lao Mong Hai, Phnom Penh resident:
"It is a loss of a great leader in Cambodian history. All Cambodians should share the pain of his death. As one of his people I have just shaved my head to show my agony."
4. SOUNDBITE (Khmer) In Chamrouen, Phnom Penh resident:
"I was trembling and terrified. The great King is dead. We don't have others to depend upon. We are so scared. When I heard the news about his death I started to cry."
5. Pan from Royal Palace to square
STORYLINE
Norodom Sihanouk, the revered former king who was a towering figure in Cambodian politics through a half-century of war, genocide and upheaval, died on Monday.
He was 89.
Following the news of his death, state flags flew at half mast in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, and some residents expressed their deep sorrow.
"It is a loss of a great leader in Cambodian history. All Cambodians should share the pain of his death. As one of his people I have just shaved my head to show my agony," said Lao Mong Hai, a Phnom Penh resident.
Sihanouk abdicated the throne in 2004, citing his poor health.
He had been receiving medical treatment in China since January and had suffered a variety of illnesses, including colon cancer, diabetes and hypertension.
A royal family member who also was Sihanouk's assistant, said the former king suffered a heart attack at a Beijing hospital.
A Cambodian government spokesman said an official funeral will be held once the former king's body is repatriated.
In January, Sihanouk requested that he be cremated in the Cambodian and Buddhist tradition, asking that his ashes be put in an urn, preferably made of gold, and placed in a stupa at the country's Royal Palace.
Sihanouk saw Cambodia transform from colony to kingdom, US-backed regime to Khmer Rouge killing field and foreign-occupied land to guerrilla war zone, and finally to a fragile experiment with democracy.
He was a feudal-style monarch who called himself a democrat.
He was beloved by his people but was seldom able to deliver the stability they craved through decades of violence.
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