Pen Sovan

Pen Sovan MP
Member of Parliament for Kampong Speu
Incumbent
Assumed office August 5, 2014
Majority	186,867 (46.9%)
32nd Prime Minister of Cambodia
In office June 27, 1981 – December 5, 1981
President	Heng Samrin
Preceded by	Pol Pot
Succeeded by	Chan Sy
Minister of National Defense
In office January 7, 1979 – December 5, 1981
Preceded by	Son Sen
Succeeded by	?
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party
In office January 5, 1979 – December 5, 1981
Succeeded by	Heng Samrin
Personal details
Born	April 15, 1936 Tram Kak, Takéo, Cambodia
Political party	Cambodia National Rescue Party
Other political affiliations	Human Rights Party (2007–2012) National Sustaining Party (1998–2007) Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party (1978–1981)
Religion	Buddhism
Military service
Allegiance	Cambodia
Service/branch	Khmer Issarak Khmer Rouge Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation
Years of service	1949–1981
Battles/wars	First Indochina War Cambodian Civil War

Pen Sovan (Khmer: ប៉ែន សុវណ្ណ; born April 15, 1936) is a Cambodian politician who served as the Prime Minister of the Hanoi-backed People's Republic of Kampuchea from June 27 to December 5, 1981, and was General Secretary of the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party (KPRP, French acronym 'PRPK') from 1979 to 1981. He was arrested and removed from office in December 1981 by the Vietnamese for irritating Lê Đức Thọ, the chief adviser to the PRK government. He was imprisoned in Vietnam until January 1992.

Sovan founded the Cambodian National Sustaining Party, which contested in the 1998 election but did not a seat in parliament. He later joined the Human Rights Party founded in 2007 and served as its vice president. In 2012, he became a member of the newly founded Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and stood as an MP candidate for Kampong Speu. He was elected and was sworn in on August 5, 2014.

Biography

Pen Sovan was born into an ethnic Vietnamese family in Takeo.^[1] He first joined the Khmer Issarak at the age of 13 in 1949 and fought against the French. Two years later, Sovan joined the Indochinese Communist Party where he first met Ta Mok. Sovan supported the Khmer Rouge during the 1970-1973 civil war against the Khmer Republic and he worked along with Chan Si under Khieu Thirith, in charge of the Voice of the United National Front of Kampuchea. From 1973 to 1979, Sovan lived in exile in Hanoi.^[2]

Sovan was a founding leader of Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation (KUFNS or FUNSK) on November 25, 1978. He served as Secretary-General of the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party from January 5, 1979 to 1 December 1981, when he was replaced by Heng Samrin following his removal from office by the Vietnamese.

Sovan was arrested on December 2, 1981 for irritating Lê Đức Thọ, chief Vietnamese advisor to the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation (FUNSK) and the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK). He was released from Vietnam's prison on January 25, 1992, after he served over 10 years. Sovan explained his long ordeal in prison: "When I wanted to create our own army of five regiments, the Vietnamese didn't agree and Lê Đức Thọ went to the USSR to complain."^[3]

See also

• Communist Party of Kampuchea
• Autobiography of Pen Sovann and the Fundamental Reason of Cambodia

References

1. Scalapino, Wanadi (1982), p. 225
2. The People's Republic of Kampuchea, 1979-1989: The revolution after Pol Pot ISBN 978-974-9575-34-5
3. Quoted by Margaret Slocomb in The People's Republic of Kampuchea, 1979-1989: The revolution after Pol Pot ISBN 978-974-9575-34-5

Bibliography

• Luke Young: Cambodian Political History. The Case of Pen Sovann In: Monthly Review 65.1 (November 2013).
• Scalapino, Robert A.; Wanadi, Jusuf; Economic, political, and security issues in Southeast Asia in the 1980s, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1982, ISBN 0912966521