Death
On 22 January 2009, at the age of 103, Cambodia’s last remaining civil servant from the French Administration, and the Sangkum Reastr Niyum, died peacefully, surrounded by his family. Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum was publicly cremated with full military guard and honour. He was saluted by official communiqués by King Father Norodom Sihanouk, King Norodom Sihamoni, France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Khmer Krom community. In an obituary published in the Phnom Penh Post, his family wrote that Chhum should be remembered as “a man considerate of the rights of others, small or tall”, who “always had kind words for the anonymous faces tirelessly serving the high and mighty. For Samdech Chhum thought of himself as a mere servant.” A few years before his death, Chhum had already asked his grandson to convey his apologies to the population of Phnom Penh for the traffic congestion that his long funeral cortege would cause. “To have served dutifully and unfailingly was his greatest pride.”
Read more about this topic: Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum
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