Chan Sy, also spelt Chan Si, ( km, ចាន់ ស៊ី; 1932 – 26 December 1984) was a Cambodian politician who served as the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

of the

People's Republic of Kampuchea The People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), UNGEGN: , ALA-LC: ; vi, Cộng hòa Nhân dân Campuchia was a partially recognised state in Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as So ...

from 1982 until his death in 1984.

Biography

Chan Sy was a Cambodian of

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

descent who early in his life became a military figure by joining the Khmer Viet Minh forces in 1950s. Chan Sy left Cambodia in 1954 after the Geneva Conference that recognized Prince Norodom Sihanouk's government as the sole legitimate authority in independent Cambodia. A member of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

from 1960, Chan Sy was believed to have returned to Cambodia in 1970 after the coup that ousted Prince Sihanouk and placed the pro-U.S.

Lon Nol Marshal Lon Nol ( km, លន់ នល់, also ; 13 November 1913 – 17 November 1985) was a Cambodian politician and general who served as Prime Minister of Cambodia twice (1966–67; 1969–71), as well as serving repeatedly as defence min ...

in power. Chan Sy, who was opposed to ultra-nationalist Pol Pot, by whose partisans he was detained in 1973. He reappeared on the scene in 1978, with the forces of the

Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation The Kampuchea Khmer United Front for National Salvation (KUFNS; km, រណសិរ្សសាមគ្គីសង្គ្រោះជាតិកម្ពុជា), often simply referred to as Salvation Front or by its French acronym FUN ...

(KUFNS) and with the Vietnamese that toppled the

Khmer Rouge regime Kampuchea ( km, កម្ពុជា ), officially known as Democratic Kampuchea (DK; km, កម្ពុជាប្រជាធិបតេយ្យ ) from 5 January 1976, was a One-party state, one-party Totalitarianism, totalitarian state ...

in 1979. After some months of military training in the Soviet Union, in 1980 he was appointed deputy defense minister and following year defense minister and vice-president of the Council of Ministers; the same year he also became a member of the Politburo of the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party (KPRP). When

Pen Sovan Pen Sovan ( km, ប៉ែន សុវណ្ណ; 15 April 1936 – 29 October 2016) was a Cambodian politician and revolutionary who served as the Prime Minister of the Hanoi-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea from 27 June to 5 December 1981. ...

was replaced as party general secretary by Heng Samrin, Chan Sy took over the premiership. Considered a steadfast adherent to Vietnam's Kampuchean policy, Chan Sy had made visits to

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

as well as to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. In the National Assembly he represented his native province. Chan Sy spent many years in Vietnam and was a founding member of the

(FUNSK) that overthrew Pol Pot's regime. After the establishment of the

, he became chief political commissar of the armed forces, and eventually appointed by the National Assembly as Prime Minister on February 9, 1982. Chan Sy died in a

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

hospital, where he was being treated for a cardiac ailment, in December 1984. His death was reported by the Vietnamese information agency on December 31, 1984, although he was believed to have died some days earlier. Chan Sy was a good friend of

, who fell into disgrace earlier for irritating the Vietnamese. The circumstances of his death were mysterious.Margaret Slocomb, ''The People's Republic of Kampuchea, 1979-1989: The revolution after Pol Pot''

Biography

References

See also