Cheng Heng (; 10 January 1917 – 15 March 1996) was a

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

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

Khmer Republic The Khmer Republic (, ; ) was a Cambodian state under the United States-backed military dictatorship of Marshal Lon Nol from 1970 to 1975. Its establishment was formally declared on 9 October 1970, following the 18 March 1970 coup d'état w ...

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 (; ) refers to the Kingdom of Cambodia when it was a French protectorate within French Indochina, a collection of Southeast Asian protectorates within the French colonial empire. The protectorate was establi ...

, 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 (; 31 October 192215 October 2012) was a member of the House of Norodom, Cambodian royal house who led the country as Monarchy of Cambodia, King, List of heads of state of Cambodia, Chief of State and Prime Minister of Cambodi ...

's Sangkum 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 is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Cambodia, most populous city of Cambodia. It has been the national capital since 1865 and has grown to become the nation's primate city and its political, economic, industr ...

, 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 (, also ; 13 November 1913 – 17 November 1985) was a Cambodian military officer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Cambodia twice (1966–67; 1969–71), as well as serving repeatedly as defence minister and provi ...

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, State Chief 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 of two vice presidents to resign, the first being John C. ...

'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 tasked with conducting criminal investigations and providing protection to American political leaders, thei ...

personnel training their guns on him while he was attempting to welcome Agnew to the Royal Palace.Shawcross, p.176 Nol subsequently used a political crisis to remove Head of state 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 is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...

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, 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 city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, 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 the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, 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