Chau Seng (, 15 March 19291977) was a Cambodian

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

politician. Seng was a

Khmer Krom The Khmer Krom (, , ; or 'Southern Khmer people') are ethnically Khmer people living in or from the Mekong Delta (Tây Nam Bộ), the south western part of Vietnam known in Khmer as Kampuchea Krom (, ). The Khmer Krom people are considered a ...

. Born in commune of

Tri Tôn Tri Tôn is an urban municipality (''trấn thuộc huyện'') and town in the Tri Tôn District of An Giang Province, Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland So ...

, Châu Đốc Province,

Cochinchina Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; ; ; ; ) is a historical exonym and endonym, exonym for part of Vietnam, depending on the contexts, usually for Southern Vietnam. Sometimes it referred to the whole of Vietnam, but it was commonly used to refer t ...

(in present-day

An Giang Province An Giang is a Provinces of Vietnam, province of Vietnam. It is located in the Mekong Delta, in the country's southwestern part. Geography An Giang is located in the upper reaches of the Mekong Delta. The Bassac River, Hậu Giang and Tiền R ...

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

). He was a cousin of

Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum Chau Sen Cocsal (, ; 1 September 1905 – 22 January 2009), also known as Chhum (Khmer: ឈុំ, ), was a Cambodian civil servant and politician who served as Prime Minister of Cambodia in 1962 and List of Presidents of the National Assembly of ...

. Educated in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, in

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 ...

, he became a communist. On his return to Cambodia, he had become

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 private secretary. He joint the

Sangkum The Sangkum Reastr Niyum (, , ;Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-English Dictionary''. Bureau of Special Research in Modern Languages. The Catholic University of America Press. Washi ...

on 13 April 1957 together with Hou Yuon and

Hu Nim Hu Nim (, 25 July 1930 or 1932 – 6 July 1977), alias "Phoas" (), was a Cambodian Communist intellectual and politician who held a number of ministerial posts. His long political career included spells with the Sangkum regime of Prince Norodo ...

. In the same year, Chau Seng was elected a member of

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. After that he was appointed under-secretary, and later secretary of state for education. In 1967, he was rector of the Buddhist University. Seng made a national attempt at Cambodianization, however it was failed. After the

Cambodian coup of 1970 Cambodian usually refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Cambodia ** Cambodian people (or Khmer people) ** Cambodian language (or Khmer language) ** For citizens and nationals of Cambodia, see Demographics of Cambodia ** F ...

in which Sihanouk was ousted by

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 ...

, Chau Seng served as the Minister for Special Missions of the

GRUNK The Royal Government of National Union of Kampuchea (, GRUNK; ) was a government-in-exile of Cambodia, based in Beijing and Hong Kong, that was in existence between 1970 and 1976, and was briefly in control of the country starting from 1975. Th ...

government, the

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

-based

government-in-exile A government-in-exile (GiE) is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovereign state or semi-sovereign state, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile usu ...

that was formed as a coalition between Sihanouk and the

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

s. Seng was arrested, tortured and later executed by 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 ...

at S-21 prison in 1977.

References

1929 births 1977 deaths Cambodian people of Vietnamese descent Khmer Krom people People from An Giang province Sangkum politicians Executed Cambodian people Cambodian communists Khmer Rouge party members People who died in the Cambodian genocide Executed communists {{Cambodia-politician-stub