Cheng Heng ( km, ឆេង ហេង, 10 January 1917 – 15 March 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 ...

n politician, who was the country's Head of State from 1970–1972, and was a relatively prominent political figure during the

Khmer Republic The Khmer Republic ( km, សាធារណរដ្ឋខ្មែរ, ; french: République khmère) was a pro-United States military-led republican government of Cambodia that was formally declared on 9 October 1970. The Khmer Republic wa ...

period (1970–1975).

Early life

Heng was born into an ethnic Chinese family in Takéo. He went on to become a prosperous businessman and landowner. He served in the civil service of

colonial Cambodia The French protectorate of Cambodia ( km, ប្រទេសកម្ពុជាក្រោមអាណាព្យាបាលបារាំង; french: Protectorat français du Cambodge) refers to the Kingdom of Cambodia when it was a Fren ...

, eventually reaching the grade of ''Oudom-Montrey'' (senior grade colonial bureaucrat) by the mid-1950s.Cheng Heng
, AFEAK, accessed 26-09-09

Political career

His early political career, during the period when Prince

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

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 ...

party controlled the country, is relatively obscure: he entered politics in 1958, and served as Secretary of State for Agriculture in 1961-2. He was elected as the Sangkum deputy for Takhmau in 1962, but lost in the 1966 elections to a rival candidate, a young Sihanoukist doctor called Keo Sann.Corfield, p.40. The 1966 election was the first in which the Sangkum fielded multiple candidates in each constituency. Heng subsequently returned via a 1967 by-election in

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 ...

, and by 1970 was serving as President of Cambodia's National Assembly. Heng's levels of political support appear to have been limited up until 1970; aside from being President of the Assembly, he had previously been director of the main Phnom Penh prison. Immediately subsequent to the Cambodian coup of 1970, in which the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, General

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 ...

and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak, engineered Sihanouk's removal, Heng was made Head of State until elections could be arranged. This was a largely ceremonial role, as Lon Nol had assumed most of the Head of State's political powers on an emergency basis: Sihanouk, from exile, was to dismiss Heng as an "insignificant puppet".Sihanouk, p.51 Apart from giving press conferences, President Cheng Heng was also called on to receive visiting foreign politicians: William Shawcross relates an incident during

Spiro Agnew Spiro Theodore Agnew (November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the 39th vice president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1973. He is the second vice president to resign the position, the other being John ...

's July 1970 visit to Phnom Penh, in which that President Cheng Heng was forced to contend with

United States Secret Service The United States Secret Service (USSS or Secret Service) is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security charged with conducting criminal investigations and protecting U.S. political leaders, their families, and ...

personnel training their guns on him while he was attempting to welcome Agnew to the

Royal Palace This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa * Abdin Palace, Cairo * Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo * Koubbeh Palace, Cairo * Tahra Palace, Cairo * Menelik Palace * Jubilee Palace * Guenete Leul Palace * Imperial Palace- ...

.Shawcross, p.176 Nol subsequently used a political crisis to remove President Cheng Heng from power and take over the role himself early in 1972.The 'crisis' was precipitated after Sirik Matak sacked a dissident Sihanoukist academic, Keo An - the brother of Keo Sann, Heng's opponent in the 1966 election. In 1973, after American pressure on Lon Nol to broaden political involvement, Heng was made Vice-Chairman of a 'High Political Council' set up to govern the country. The Council's influence was soon, however, sidelined, and Nol resumed personalist rule of the deteriorating Republic. In 1975, with the

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 ...

forces surrounding the capital, Heng's name was published on a list of "Seven Traitors" (also including Lon Nol, Sisowath Sirik Matak, In Tam,

Long Boret Long Boret ( km, ឡុង បូរ៉េត, ; 3 January 1933 – 17 April 1975) was a Cambodian politician who served as the last Prime Minister of Cambodia, prime minister of the Khmer Republic from 26 December 1973, to 17 April 1975. Highly ...

, Sosthene Fernandez and Son Ngoc Thanh) who were threatened with immediate execution in the event of a Communist victory. Heng fled the country on April 1 for

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, where he became associated with the group of exiles centred on Son Sann. Heng returned to Cambodia after the UN-brokered 1991 political settlement (the Paris Peace Agreements) and had some further involvement in politics, founding the Republican Coalition Party which unsuccessfully took part in the 1993 elections. He died on 15 March 1996 at the age of 86 in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

, the United States.

Other activities

World Academy of Art and Science The World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS), founded in 1960, is an international non-governmental scientific organization and global network of more than 800 scientists, artists, and scholars in more than 90 countries. It serves as a forum for s ...

, Fellow

References

Sources

*Corfield, J. ''Khmers Stand Up! A History of the Cambodian Government, 1970-1975'', Monash Asia Institute, 1994 *梁明 (Liang, Ming)， "高棉華僑概況 (Overview of the Khmer Chinese)–海外華人青少年叢書"， 1988, 华侨协会总会主编–正中书局印行 *Shawcross, W. ''Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon, and the Destruction of Cambodia'', Simon & Schuster, 1979 *Norodom Sihanouk, ''My War with the CIA'', Random House, 1973 {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Heng 20th-century Cambodian politicians Members of the National Assembly (Cambodia) Presidents of the National Assembly (Cambodia) People of the Vietnam War Cambodian anti-communists Cambodian people of Chinese descent 1910 births 1996 deaths Khmer Republic Government ministers of Cambodia Heads of state of Cambodia