Nhiek Tioulong ( km, ញឹក ជូឡុង; 23 August 1908 – 9 June 1996) was a

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

n army officer, politician, and actor who served as Acting

Prime Minister of Cambodia The prime minister of Cambodia ( km, នាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រីនៃកម្ពុជា, ) is the head of government of Cambodia. The prime minister is also the chairman of the Cabinet and leads the executive branch of the ...

from 13 February 1962 to 6 August 1962. He was a prominent politician during the tenure of Prince

Norodom Sihanouk Norodom Sihanouk (; km, នរោត្តម សីហនុ, ; 31 October 192215 October 2012) was a Cambodian statesman, Sangkum and FUNCINPEC politician, Norodom Sihanouk filmography, film director, and composer who led Cambodia in vari ...

. He also served as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the 1960s and repeatedly as governor of provinces in Cambodia. In 1969 he received the honorary title ''Samdech Konhcharathipadei'' ( km, សម្ដេចចក្រីកុញ្ចរាធិបតី) by Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Tioulong fathered seven daughters, one of whom was future lawmaker

Tioulong Saumura Tioulong Saumura ( km, ជូឡុង សូមូរ៉ា; born 9 July 1950, ) is a Cambodian politician and financial analyst. She was a member of the Cambodia National Rescue Party and was elected to represent Phnom Penh in the National A ...

, who would go on to marry prominent opposition leader

Sam Rainsy Sam Rainsy ( km, សម រង្ស៊ី, UNGEGN: , ALA-LC: ; ; born 10 March 1949) is a Cambodian activist, economist and politician who most recently served as the Leader of the Opposition. He is now the interim leader of the Cambodia Nation ...

Early life

Early Nhiek Tioulong was born in 1908 in Phnom Penh, in a family of mandarins with Chinese ancestry near the palace. After primary education in

Lycee Sisowath In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

in Phnom Penh, he attended, and graduated from, the prestigious high school Chasseloup Laubat in Saigon.

Political career

He returned to Cambodia in 1932 and served as governor of

Pursat Pursat ( ; km, ពោធិ៍សាត់, ) is the capital of Pursat Province, Cambodia. Its name derived from a type of tree. It lies on the Pursat River The Pursat River ( km, ស្ទឹងពោធិ៍សាត់, Steung Pursat) al ...

in 1937 and from 1939 to 1944 as governor of Kampong Cham. On March 9, 1945, he was appointed governor of

Phnom Penh Phnom Penh (; km, ភ្នំពេញ, ) is the capital and most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since the French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its economic, indus ...

. Under the

Sisowath Monireth Sisowath Monireth ( km, ស៊ីសុវត្ថិ មុន្នីរ៉េត; 25 November 1909 – September 1975) was a Cambodian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Cambodia, during the French protectorate period, fr ...

administration, he served as

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from 17 October 1945 to 14 December 1946. He also served as Minister of Education during the

Son Ngoc Thanh Sơn Ngọc Thành ( km, សឺង ង៉ុកថាញ់; 7 December 1908 – 8 August 1977) was a Cambodian nationalist and republican politician, with a long history as a rebel and (for brief periods) a government minister. Early li ...

administration. In April 1948, he became the Cambodian government delegate from the French High Commissioner in Indochina and in August of the same year, representative of Cambodia to the High Council of the

French Union The French Union () was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial empire system, colloquially known as the " French Empire" (). It was the formal end of the "indigenous" () status of French subje ...

in Paris. In September, he is part of the French delegation to the UN, as an advisor. On 22 November 1949 he was appointed colonel of the Khmer Royal Army and Chief of Staff. In May 1950, he was appointed as a governor again, of Battambang Province. In 1951, he returned to his position as Minister of Finance. At the end of December 1953, after Cambodia gained independence, he was appointed the new governor of Phnom Penh and took part in negotiations with the French on the latest skills transfer between the colonial administration and the Cambodian government. On 7 April 1954, he became the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He became the first General of the

Royal Cambodian Army The Royal Cambodian Army ( km, កងទ័ពជើងគោក, ) is a part of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. It has ground forces which numbered 85,000 divided into eleven divisions of infantry, with integrated armour and artillery supp ...

. In 1955, he began his career as ambassador, to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, and later

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. In 1966, he starred in the lead role of Sihanouk's first feature-length film ''

Apsara An apsaras or apsara ( sa, अप्सरा ' lso ' pi, अक्चरा, translit=accharā) is a type of female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hinduism and Buddhist culture. They figure prominently in the sculpture, dance, literat ...

''. In 1969, he retired to France and remained in the shadows until the mid 1980s when he became vice-president of the

National United Front The National United Front ( my, အမျိုးသား ညီညွတ်ရေး တပ်ပေါင်းစု) was a political alliance in Myanmar, Burma. History The alliance was formed in 1955 as a successor to the People's Democr ...

for an Independent, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia neutral (FUNCINPEC). This party was created by Norodom Sihanouk to fight the new regime established in Phnom Penh by Vietnamese troops. He led the

Funcinpec The National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia,; french: Front uni national pour un Cambodge indépendant, neutre, pacifique et coopératif commonly referred to as FUNCINPEC,, ; is a royalist politic ...

from 1989 to 1992. Tioulong died in a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

hospital on June 9, 1996, aged 87.

References

, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nhiek, Tioulong 1908 births 1996 deaths 20th-century Cambodian politicians Deaths in Hong Kong Cambodian diplomats Cambodian expatriates in France Prime Ministers of Cambodia Finance ministers of Cambodia Foreign ministers of Cambodia Government ministers of Cambodia Governors of Phnom Penh Ambassadors of Cambodia to France Mayors of places in Cambodia FUNCINPEC politicians Sangkum politicians Cambodian generals Cambodian anti-communists Cambodian military personnel Cambodian monarchists Cambodian politicians of Chinese descent People from Phnom Penh Cambodian Buddhists