Peter Khoy Saukam (born Saukam Khoy ; 2 February 1915 – 14 November 2008) was a Cambodian senior military officer and politician who served as Acting President of the Khmer Republic for 12 days in April 1975. He was

President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the Speaker (politics), speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's Order of succession, succes ...

from 1972 to 1975.

Early life

Born on 2 February 1915, Saukam Khoy enlisted into the Khmer Royal Army in 1940, when he was 25. He achieved the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1953 and subsequently, lieutenant-general. He became President of the Senate of the Khmer Republic in 1972.

Presidency

He took office on 1 April 1975, when a tearful Lon Nol left 'temporarily' with his entire family for

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after an invitation from his friend, Indonesian President

Suharto Suharto (8 June 1921 – 27 January 2008) was an Indonesian Officer (armed forces), military officer and politician, and dictator, who was the second and longest serving president of Indonesia, serving from 1967 to 1998. His 32 years rule, cha ...

. Khoy's time in office was short. He left

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 ...

together with American Ambassador John Gunther Dean aboard a CH-53 helicopter during the evacuation of American embassy staff and civilians, dubbed Operation Eagle Pull on 12 April, just five days before Phnom Penh fell to 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 ...

Death

Khoy died at the age of 93 in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, on 14 November 2008.

Notes

References

*Kenneth Conboy, ''FANK: A History of the Cambodian Armed Forces, 1970-1975'', Equinox Publishing (Asia) Pte Ltd, Djakarta 2011. *Kenneth Conboy, Kenneth Bowra, and Mike Chappell, ''The War in Cambodia 1970-75'', Men-at-arms series 209, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1989. *Justin Corfield and Laura Summers, ''Historical Dictionary of Cambodia'', Asian/Oceanian Historical Dictionaries No. 43, Scarecrow Press, Inc., Lanham, Maryland, and Oxford 2003. �

*Sak Sutsakhan, ''The Khmer Republic at War and the Final Collapse'', U.S. Army Center of Military History, Washington D.C. 1980. – available online at Vietnam.ttu.ed
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1915 births 2008 deaths 20th-century Cambodian politicians Cambodian emigrants to the United States Cambodian republicans Politicians from Stockton, California Social Republican Party politicians Heads of state of Cambodia Presidents of the Senate (Cambodia) Khmer Republic {{Cambodia-politician-stub