Sơn Ngọc Thành ( km, សឺង ង៉ុកថាញ់; 7 December 1908 – 8 August 1977) 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 Thailan ...
n nationalist and republican politician, with a long history as a rebel and (for brief periods) a government minister.
Early life
Thanh was born in
Trà Vinh
Trà Vinh City is the capital city of Trà Vinh province in southern Vietnam. Location
It is located in the Mekong Delta region, which is in the Southern part of Vietnam. Under the Republic of Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Repub ...
, Vietnam, to a mother of both Chinese and
Vietnamese
Vietnamese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia
** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam.
* Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam
** Overse ...
ancestry and a
Khmer Krom father.
[: "The first of the Khmer Krom to arrive on the scene in Phnom Penh was Son Ngoc Thanh. Thanh had been born in Cochinchina, and his father was a Khmer Krom landowner, while his mother was from a Chinese-Vietnamese family."] He was educated in
Saigon,
Montpellier and
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, studying law for a year before returning to Indochina. He found work as a magistrate in
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 ...
and as a public prosecutor in
Phnom Penh before becoming Deputy Director of the Buddhist Institute.
Along with another prominent early Khmer nationalist,
Pach Chhoeun
Pach may refer to:
People
*Joseph Pach (1928), Canadian violinist
* Walter Pach (1883–1958), American artist, critic, lecturer, and art historian
*Marek Pach (1954), Polish combined skier and ski jumper
*János Pach (1954), Hungarian mathematici ...
, he established the first
Khmer language
Khmer (; , ) is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Khmer people, and the official and national language of Cambodia. Khmer has been influenced considerably by Sanskrit and Pali, especially in the royal and religious registers, throug ...
newspaper, ''Nagaravatta'', in 1936. The political outlook of ''Nagaravatta'', which urged Khmers to break the commercial monopoly of foreign traders by starting their own businesses, was to make Thanh and his colleagues receptive to Japanese fascism, or as he termed it, "National Socialism".
Thanh's ideology was essentially
republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
, right-wing, and modernising in outlook, which was to make him a longstanding opponent of the King
Norodom Sihanouk. Despite his nationalism, he was also a strong advocate of pan-Asian cooperation, and advocated the teaching of the
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese ( vi, tiếng Việt, links=no) is an Austroasiatic languages, Austroasiatic language originating from Vietnam where it is the national language, national and official language. Vietnamese is spoken natively by over 70 million people, ...
in Cambodian schools, as it was a potential conduit for modernising ideas.
Involvement in government
After demonstrations against the French in July 1942, Thanh fled to
Japan, returning when Sihanouk declared Cambodia's independence on 12 March 1945, during the Japanese occupation. He was made Foreign Minister. In August with the surrender of Japan, Thanh made himself Prime Minister. With the restoration of French control in October, he was arrested, and sent into exile first in Saigon and then in France.
Many of his supporters joined the
Khmer Issarak
The Khmer Issarak ( km, ខ្មែរឥស្សរៈ, or 'Independent Khmer') was a "loosely structured" anti- French and anti-colonial independence movement. The movement has been labelled as “amorphous”. The Issarak was ...
resistance to fight the colonial power. In 1951, the authorities brought Thanh back, to considerable popular acclaim; refusing a Cabinet position, he made alliances with various leaders of the Khmer Issarak rebels, and established another newspaper (''Khmer Kraok'') which advocated revolt against the French administration and was quickly banned. In 1952, accompanied by his lieutenant
Ea Sichau (a French-educated customs official and leftist intellectual) and a number of supporters, Thanh disappeared into the forests in the area of
Siem Reap, and began to organise resistance.
The Issarak movement was split between the
Khmer National Liberation Committee, the more overtly leftist
United Issarak Front
The United Issarak Front (in km, សមាគមខ្មែរឥស្សរៈ, ''Samakhum Khmer Issarak'', lit. 'Khmer Issarak Front') was a Cambodian anti-colonial movement 1950–1954,Kiernan, Ben. ''How Pol Pot Came to Power''. London: ...
, and a variety of regional warlords and guerrilla leaders. Thanh attempted to gain overall control of the movement throughout the early 1950s; a few of the movement's leaders, such as Prince
Norodom Chantaraingsey
Prince Norodom Chantaraingsey ( km, នរោត្ដម ចន្ទរង្សី, 1924 or 1926 – c. 1976) was a member of the Cambodian royal family and a Cambodian nationalist. Initially a leader of the guerrilla resistance against the ...
and
Puth Chhay, temporarily supported his overall leadership. By 1954, however, he had been increasingly sidelined by the leftists, and received overtures from the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
, who would fund many of his activities in future.
Though Thanh retained a high degree of support amongst the Khmer Krom, in subsequent years he would have relatively little influence or popular support within Cambodian domestic politics, especially as Sihanouk's
Sangkum
The Sangkum Reastr Niyum ( km, សង្គមរាស្ត្រនិយម, , ;Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-English Dictionary''. Bureau of Special Research in Modern Langu ...
movement absorbed most centrist and rightist elements.
The Khmer Serei
The
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...
ended in 1954. From his base near Siem Reap, Thanh organized the
Khmer Serei
The Khmer Serei ( km, ខ្មែរសេរី ; "Free Khmer") were an anti-communist and anti-monarchist guerrilla force founded by Cambodian nationalist Son Ngoc Thanh. In 1959, he published 'The Manifesto of the Khmer Serei' claiming that ...
militia, mainly recruited from amongst the Khmer Krom, to fight Sihanouk, who had come to regard Thanh as one of his greatest enemies. In his 1959 "Manifesto" of the Khmer Serei, Thanh charged Sihanouk with allowing the "Communistization" of Cambodia at the hands of North Vietnam.
The Khmer Serei operated in the border areas of Thailand and South Vietnam, making clandestine anti-Sihanouk radio broadcasts, but made little headway, although they were suggested as a source of military power in a number of coup plots (such as the
Bangkok Plot
The Bangkok Plot, also known as the Dap Chhuon Plot, was a late 1950s international conspiracy in Cambodia. The goal being to topple Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia, it was allegedly initiated by the right-wing politicians Sam Sary and Son Ng ...
). After the Cambodian military and
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 ...
overthrew Sihanouk in 1970, Thanh was invited to participate in the new
Khmer Republic government - initially as an adviser to the Acting Head of State,
Cheng Heng
Cheng Heng ( km, ឆេង ហេង, 10 January 1917 – 15 March 1996) was a Cambodian politician, who was the country's Head of State from 1970–1972, and was a relatively prominent political figure during the Khmer Republic period (1970–1 ...
- and put his Khmer Serei troops at its service.
Lon Nol's anti-Communist Government of the
Khmer Republic (1970 - 1975) was claiming the
Mekong Delta (Southwestern Vietnam) from South Vietnam, raising an unwelcome question to the anti-Communist Government of the
South Vietnam Republic but fully satisfying the Khmer Krom organization's expectations.
In 1972, Thanh again became Prime Minister, succeeding to
Sisowath Sirik Matak
Sisowath Sirik Matak ( km, ស៊ីសុវត្ថិ សិរិមតៈ; 22 January 191421 April 1975) was a Cambodian politician and member of the Cambodian royal family, under the House of Sisowath.
Sirik Matak was mainly notable for h ...
, but after being the target of a bomb attack (possibly organised by Lon Nol's brother,
Lon Non
Lon Non ( km, លន់ ណុន; 18 April 1930(?) – 17 April 1975) was a Cambodian politician and soldier who rose to his greatest prominence during the Khmer Republic (1970–1975).
Non was the younger brother of Prime Minister (and lat ...
) he was soon dismissed by Lon Nol and exiled himself to South Vietnam.
Thanh was arrested after the
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese was the capture of Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon, t ...
, and died in custody in
Chi Hoa Prison in Ho Chi Minh City due to illness on 8 August 1977.
See also
*
Nguon Hong
References
Bibliography
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Son, Ngoc Thanh
1908 births
1977 deaths
20th-century Cambodian politicians
Cambodian anti-communists
Cambodian collaborators with Imperial Japan
Cambodian exiles
Cambodian nationalists
Cambodian people imprisoned abroad
Cambodian politicians of Chinese descent
Cambodian people of Vietnamese descent
Cambodian people who died in prison custody
Cambodian republicans
Foreign ministers of Cambodia
Government ministers of Cambodia
Khmer Krom people
People from Trà Vinh province
Prime Ministers of Cambodia
Prisoners who died in Vietnamese detention
World War II political leaders
Khmer Republic
Heads of government who were later imprisoned