Career
In 1928, Chau Sen Cocsal was promoted Deputy Governor of Takeo Province (Gouverneur Adjoint), then successively posted in Tralach District, Takeo Province, in 1931 and Thbaung Khmaum, Kompong Cham Province, in 1935. In 1938, Chhum became Governor of Svay Rieng Province. From 1940 to 1944, he was Governor of Kompong Chhnang Province. During World War II, Chhum refused to supply forced labour to the Japanese occupying forces in Cambodia and joined resistance in the jungle.
With the return of the French Administration, Chhum was nominated Mayor of Phnom Penh in 1945, Governor of Kompong Cham Province in 1946, then Governor of Kandal Province in 1948. In 1951, Chhum was sent to Thailand, as Cambodia’s first ambassador to a foreign country. Chhum returned to Cambodia in 1952 and once more took to the jungle to fight for the country’s independence from France.
In 1955, Chau Sen Cocsal was elected to the Cambodian National Assembly as deputy of Kompong Cham Province. From 1958 to 1963, he occupied the position of President of the National Assembly. In 1969, at the age of 64, Chhum retired from public office.
In April 1975, after the fall of Phnom Penh to the Khmer Rouge and Saigon to North Vietnamese troops, as Chau Sen Cocsal was visiting relatives in Kampuchea Krom, he was arrested by Vietnamese authorities. Charged with spying for the US Central Intelligence Agency, Chhum was incarcerated for 17 months in what he would later describe as a “chicken box” then in a room where he took turns sleeping with 40 other prisoners. Chau Sen Cocsal spent an additional two years under house arrest in Saigon. Under the pressure of France, Vietnam released Chhum, who was allowed to migrate to France with his wife.
In 1991, following the signature of the Paris Peace Agreements, King Norodom Sihanouk nominated Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum as President of Cambodia’s Supreme National Council (SNC). From 1992 onwards, he became High Privy Advisor of King Norodom Sihanouk. In 1993, Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum was awarded the highest rank in Cambodia’s civil service, “Samdech”. The same year, he became Dean of the Constitutional Council. Le Monde correspondent, Jean-Claude Pomonti, in a personal interview, quoted Chau Sen Cocsal as having “little affinity with the current Cambodian regime”, assessing that its leadership “had almost sold Cambodia to the Vietnamese”. Chhum retired a second time from public office in 2007. His decorations include Grand Croix de l'Ordre Royal (Cambodia) and Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur (France).
Read more about this topic: Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum
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