Word: samphan
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...expected that Khieu Samphan, 43, will quickly emerge as the major figure in the new government (see box below). For most of the war, the French-educated Samphan was Deputy Premier to Sihanouk, but it was clear all along that it was he who held the power, not the exiled prince...
...soft spoken Marxist, Samphan is expected to try to transform his nation into a one-party Communist-dominated state. In fact, in those areas that have been controlled by the insurgents for some time, there have been zealous efforts to sweep away the traditional easygoing habits of old Cambodia. A highly politicized, regimented life has been stressed, peasants have been herded into communes, and the state has acquired a dominant authority over private activities...
Undone by Popularity. Sihanouk's "Deputy Premier" and commander-in-chief of the Khmer Rouge fighting forces is Khieu Samphan, 43; he is the most prominent figure in the movement. Born in Cambodia's Svay Rieng province, Samphan studied from 1954-59 in France, where he earned a doctorate in economics at the University of Paris. In 1962, after Sihanouk brought him into the government as Secretary of State for Commerce, Samphan became a hero to young Cambodian intellectuals who opposed the corruption of the existing government. He drove to work on a motorbike and after long hours...
...sense, Samphan's popularity was his undoing. Sihanouk forced him to resign in 1963, charging him with incompetence. Three years later, though, Samphan was elected to the National Assembly. One April evening in 1967, during a peasant uprising in Battambang province that had set off an antileftist witch hunt in the capital. Khieu Samphan simply vanished. According to his family, he told his mother that he was going out for a breath of fresh air before dinner and never came back...
...other Khmer Rouge leaders have backgrounds similar to Samphan...