Samrin Heng

Heng Samrin ហេង សំរិន [b. 25 May 1934, Anlong Chrey Village, Ponhea Kraek District, Kampong Cham Province] is a Cambodian politician, the longest-serving statesman since after the ousting of the Khmer Rouge, to which he contributed by leading the anti-Khmer Rouge resistance inside Cambodia and in Vietnam.

After monastic studies and monkhood from 1946 to 1951, Heng Samrin worked on a rubber plantation and became a farmer in Anlong Chrey in 1956. Close to the protest movement, he joined the Khmer People’s Revolutionary Party in 1961, becoming a member of the clandestine Eastern Front along the Vietnam-Cambodia border under the leadership of So Phim while maintaining a public activity as a roving primary school teacher and a captain in the official village militia.

*Seven decades of national involvement:* 1) Heng Samrin at a resistance outpost with **Hun Sen**, bottom left, in white shirts, and left to right: **Mat Ly, Chey Kanha, Chan Ven**, 3 of the 14 founding members of the United Front, circa 1978 [photo RIA-Novosti, repr. in *Heng Samrin:* *A Man of the People*] 2) Samdech Heng Samrin (second from left) and Samdech Chea Sim (second from right) look on as H.M. King Norodom Sihamoni greets Samdech Prime Minister Hun Sen (left) during the Water Festival celebrations in Phnom Penh, 20 Nov 2010 [photo by Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP].

Following the 1968 crackdown on the KPR party — which had been founded in 1951 -, Heng Samrin escaped arrest and was appointed a section commander, later director of a field hospital and one year later deputy platoon commander in charge of political affairs. As the resistance intensified after General Lon Nol’s putsch in March 1970, he led the fight against Lon Nol’s forces in the Kampong Cham Province in coordination with the Viet Cong Ninth Division.

Subsequently, Heng Samrin took charge over the ‘Eastern Zone’, coordinating the protection and repair of main roads and overseeing and agricultural production to support the operational units. Opposed to the Khmer Rouge régime, the Eastern Zone became the center of resistance against Pol Pot’s followers, leading to the proclamation of the United Front for the National Salvation of Kampuchea [រណសិរ្សសាមគ្គីសង្គ្រោះជាតិកម្ពុជា, also known by its acronym in French, FUNSK] on 2 Dec. 1978. Under Chea Sim ជា ស៊ីម’s and his leadership, the border area from Kratie to Kompong Cham became the main liberated zone in Cambodia. On 7 Jan. 1979, the joint forces of the United Front and the Vietnamese army liberated Phnom Penh, and three days later, the People’s Republic of Kampuchea សាធារណរដ្ឋប្រជាមានិតកម្ពុជា (1979 – 1989) was proclaimed with Heng Samrin as Chairman of the provisional government.

1) Heng Samrin with **Chea Sim** at the United Front founding congress in Snuol District, Kratie Province, 2 Dec. 1978. 2) Standing between **Prime Minister Hun Sen** and **Mikhail Gorbatchev**, General Secretary of the USSR Communist Party, in the 1980s. *[photos from the book* The People’s Struggle: Cambodia Reborn.]

1) Women reading a leaflet dated 11 Nov. 1978 urging all people to rise up against Pol Pot and Ieng Sary, signed by Heng Samrin as Commander of the Fourth Division. *[photos from the book* The *People’s Struggle: Cambodia Reborn*.] 2) 3) Heng Samrin pictured in the photo album ការស្ថាបនាប្រទេសកម្ពុជាក្រោយគ្រោះមហន្តរាយ [Cambodia: Rebuilding After the Disaster].

Heng Samrin played a major role in the reconstruction of the country during the People’s Republic and the State of Cambodia រដ្ឋកម្ពុជា (1989 – 1993) as President of the State Council. Secretary-General of the Party from 1981 to 1991 (succeeding Pen Sovan), he worked at the transformation of the KPR conductive to the new Cambodian People’s Party គណៈបក្សប្រជាជនកម្ពុជា (CPP) he confounded with Samdech Hun Sen and Samdech Chea Sim in 1991, at the time the Paris Peaced Agreements opened the way to the Second Kingdom of Cambodia.

After King Norodom Sihanouk was restored in 1993, Heng Samrin was elected to the new National Assembly, where he served as vice chairman from 1998 to 2006, and President from 2006 to 2018. The King, who granted him the title of Samdech, appointed him as Senior Privy Councillor alongside Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen as first and second prime ministers. He holds the rank of four-star general in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces since 1996, and is Honorary Chairman of the CPP since 1998.

In August 2023, King Norodom Sihamoni appointed former Prime Minister Hun Sen and Heng Samrin respectively as President and Honorary President of the Supreme Council of the King, both with the status of Prime Minister.

Samdech Heng Samrin is married since March 1957 to Lok Chumteav Sao Ty សៅ ទី and they have four children, Heng Pov ហេង ពៅ, Heng Samaun ហេង សំអូន, Heng Samnang ហេង សំណាង, and Heng Samarn ហេង សំអាន.

1) Official portrait made by **Koun Bunna ឃួន ប៊ុនណា** on 10 March 1983 [photo by STP Cambodia (Norm Phanith), 2025]. 2) The portrait displayed in a classroom in the 1980s [detail of a photo from ការស្ថាបនាប្រទេសកម្ពុជាក្រោយគ្រោះមហន្តរាយ [Cambodia: Rebuilding After the Disaster].

Publications

[foreword to] ការស្ថាបនាប្រទេសកម្ពុជាក្រោយគ្រោះមហន្តរាយ [Cambodia: Rebuilding After the Disaster], ed. E. V. Kobelev, photos by A. V. Lieberman, KH tr. by Long Seam, Moscow, Planeta, 1988, 200 p.
A Man of the People‑ហេង សំរិន បុរសរបស់ប្រជាជន, Phnom Penh, General Secretariat of the National Assembly of the Kingdom of Cambodia-Red Lotus Publishing, Peter Starr ed., 2011, 111 p. ISBN 978 – 999 – 63 – 643 – 0 – 3.
សម្តេចអគ្គមហាពញាចក្រី ហេង សំរិន, Phnom Penh, Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans, and Youth Rehabilitation, 2013. | ENG : The People’s Struggle: Cambodia Reborn, Peter Starr (ed.), Didier Millet Editions, 2019, 176 p. ISBN 978 – 9814610490.