Norodom Chakrapong

Norodom Chakrapong (born 21 October 1945) is a Cambodian politician, businessman and former major-general of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. He is the fourth son of Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia and also a half-brother of the current king, Norodom Sihamoni. Chakrapong started his career as a military pilot in 1963. After Sihanouk was overthrown in 1970, Chakrapong spent time under house arrest, then in Beijing as the Head of Protocol of then-Prince Sihanouk, afterwards living overseas before he joined the Funcinpec in 1981 and fought against Vietnamese occupation as a commander of the Armée Nationale Sihanoukiste. In 1991, Chakrapong left Funcinpec to join the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia between 1992 and 1993. When the CPP lost the 1993 general elections, Chakrapong led a secession attempt in 1993. In 1994, he was accused of joining a failed coup attempt (which he denied) which led him to be sent into exile. After Chakrapong was pardoned in 1998, he founded a private airline company, Royal Phnom Penh Airways. The airlines later stopped all operations in early 2006. In 2002, Chakrapong established a royalist party, the Khmer Soul Party. When the Khmer Soul Party failed to win a single parliamentary seat in the 2003 general elections, Charkapong rejoined Funcinpec and briefly served as Senator in 2005. In 2006, Chakrapong was expelled from Funcinpec and joined the Norodom Ranariddh Party. When the Cambodian government pursued legal investigations on the debts Chakrapong accumulated from his airlines, Chakrapong quit politics in 2007. Chakrapong, who was already a privy councillor to the Supreme Privy Council, then dedicated himself to humanitarian work and supporting royal activities. In 2013, Chakrapong was appointed member of the Constitutional Council of Cambodia by the King. Early life Norodom Chakrapong was born at the Khemarin Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Norodom Sihanouk and Sisowath Pongsanmoni. As a young boy, Chakrapong was trained as a ballet dancer at the Royal Ballet of Cambodia, and performed at several state functions when Sihanouk attended or hosted foreign dignitaries when he was Prime Minister. In 1958, Chakrapong was sent with his half-brother Ranariddh to Marseille, France, where they attended high school. After graduating in 1963, Chakrapong returned to Cambodia and became an officer cadet with the Royal Cambodian Air Force where he graduated at the top of his class.