Hou Yuon
Encyclopedia
Hou Yuon was a veteran of the communist movement in Cambodia
, and was of Sino
-Khmer
descent. A member of the Communist Party of Kampuchea
, also known as the Khmer Rouge
, he served in several ministerial posts during the 1960s (as a member of the non-communist government of Prince Norodom Sihanouk
) and 1970s.
Yuon, who repeatedly clashed with other members of the Khmer Rouge leadership on policy issues, disappeared after 1975 and is thought to have been executed.
, though unlike the majority of his colleagues he was from a poor background: his father was a peasant who grew rice and tobacco.
He went on to study economics and law, earning a doctorate from the University of Paris
. The doctoral dissertation he wrote expressed basic themes that were later to become the cornerstones of economic policies adopted by Democratic Kampuchea
. The central role of the peasants in national development was espoused in his 1955 thesis, The Cambodian Peasants and Their Prospects for Modernization , which challenged the conventional view that urbanization and industrialization are necessary precursors of development.
Yuon, who enjoyed great personal popularity - he was described as having "truly astounding physical and intellectual strength" - became an important figure in the community of radical Cambodian expatriates in Paris
. He was a unanimous choice as head of the Khmer Students' Association (KSA). In 1952, along with Saloth Sar, Ieng Sary
, and other leftists, Yuon gained notoriety by sending an open letter to the then-King Norodom Sihanouk
calling him the "strangler of infant democracy." After the French authorities closed down the KSA, Yuon and Khieu Samphan
helped to establish a new group, the Khmer Students' Union, in 1956.
After returning to Cambodia, Hou Yuon became a teacher of French
at a new private high school, the Lycée Kambuboth, which he helped establish.
party and government to provide a balance to the right-wing. Yuon was to serve in several ministries between 1958 and 1963. He was eventually forced to resign after losing a vote of no-confidence in the National Assembly; he was considered to have committed lèse majesté
by not following Sihanouk's demands closely enough. However, despite his open public disagreements with Sihanouk - he once accused Sihanouk of using scarce electric power to light his own street, and was the target of Sihanouk's most furious personal tirades - he approved of the Sangkum policies of nationalisation implemented after 1964.
In 1964, Yuon was also to publish a revision of his 1956 book The Co-Operative Question, which now formally proposed an alliance between socialists and Sihanouk's regime. It contained an in-depth study of how co-operative organisation might help poorer farmers and peasants, particularly in avoiding the need to use unscrupulous money-lenders, and redress the urban "oppression" of rural areas: though contrary to the line later adopted by the Khmer Rouge, Yuon identified that city workers or landowning peasants did not themselves oppress the poor peasantry.
In the 1966 National Assembly elections, Sihanouk abandoned his previous policy of nominating one candidate for each electoral district. Most leftist Sangkum deputies now had to compete with members of the traditional elite: only Hou Yuon, Hu Nim and Khieu Samphan chose to stand, their task made harder by Sihanok actively campaigning against them: nevertheless, Yuon won by a large margin in his constituency, receiving 78% of the vote. Later that year he was briefly made part of a "counter-government" set up by Sihanouk to balance the right-wing cabinet of Prime Minister Lon Nol
. However, after the Samlaut Uprising
of 1967, Yuon was accused by Sihanouk of stirring up unrest, and threatened with arrest and possible execution: he fled to join the communist maquis, led by Saloth Sar (Pol Pot
), Ieng Sary and Son Sen
, in the forests.
in which Sihanouk was ousted by Lon Nol, Yuon became a part of the GRUNK
, the Beijing
-based government-in-exile that was formed as a coalition between Sihanouk and the communists. Yuon was made Minister for Cooperatives, and caused serious rifts between himself and other members of the Khmer Rouge leadership by protesting at the speed with which collectivisation was being carried out in the 'liberated' areas. As early as 1970, he had publicly criticised Pol Pot, complaining that the Party was using his name as a "screen" by making him a "puppet minister". He also argued against the abolition of markets, allegedly warning Pol Pot and Nuon Chea
"If you go on like this, I give your regime three years. Then it will collapse".
Yuon's outspoken criticisms of Khmer Rouge policy led to him spending a brief period in a 're-education' camp, K6, in 1974. However his personal friendship with Pol Pot and his general popularity, both with the peasantry and with expatriate Cambodian intellectuals, led to a period of reinstatement in the Party leadership during 1975.
, which had been divided into several sectors each run by the administration of a different zone of the country, he is reported to have remarked "It's Berlin!". Several accounts exist of his death, the most common of which is related to the controversial order to evacuate Phnom Penh given after the communist victory, which Yuon is known to have opposed. In one version, related by a CPK cadre from Kampong Cham, Yuon was said to have been shot in August 1975 by a group of Khmer Rouge soldiers after he sympathetically addressed a group of evacuees at Prek Por, Srey Santhor District
, and his body thrown into the Mekong
.
Other witnesses claim that Yuon was seen at a camp in Stung Treng
late in 1976, and most probably either died of disease, or committed suicide, while being held in the camp system. Another Khmer Rouge source claimed that Yuon was mistakenly shot by a bodyguard after being recalled to Phnom Penh.
It has been noted that in Khmer Rouge discourse after 1978, Yuon was referred to in terms indicating that he had been posthumously rehabilitated.
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, and was of Sino
Chinese Cambodian
Chinese Cambodians are Cambodian citizens of Chinese descent. "Khmer-Chen", is used for peoples of either mixed Cambodian & Chinese descent or people of whom are Cambodian born citizens with Chinese ancestry;...
-Khmer
Khmer people
Khmer people are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon–Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...
descent. A member of the Communist Party of Kampuchea
Communist Party of Kampuchea
The Communist Party of Kampuchea, also known as Khmer Communist Party , was a communist party in Cambodia. Its followers were generally known as Khmer Rouge .-Foundation of the party; first divisions:...
, also known as the Khmer Rouge
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge literally translated as Red Cambodians was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, who were the ruling party in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen and Khieu Samphan...
, he served in several ministerial posts during the 1960s (as a member of the non-communist government of Prince Norodom Sihanouk
Norodom Sihanouk
Norodom Sihanouk regular script was the King of Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and again from 1993 until his semi-retirement and voluntary abdication on 7 October 2004 in favor of his son, the current King Norodom Sihamoni...
) and 1970s.
Yuon, who repeatedly clashed with other members of the Khmer Rouge leadership on policy issues, disappeared after 1975 and is thought to have been executed.
Early career
Hou Yuon was born in Kampong Cham in 1930. In common with several other future members of the Khmer Rouge, he studied at the Lycee SisowathLycee Sisowath
Lycée Preah Sisowath is a secondary school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The school was founded in 1873 as a collège and became a lycée in 1933.-History:...
, though unlike the majority of his colleagues he was from a poor background: his father was a peasant who grew rice and tobacco.
He went on to study economics and law, earning a doctorate from the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
. The doctoral dissertation he wrote expressed basic themes that were later to become the cornerstones of economic policies adopted by Democratic Kampuchea
Democratic Kampuchea
The Khmer Rouge period refers to the rule of Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen, Khieu Samphan and the Khmer Rouge Communist party over Cambodia, which the Khmer Rouge renamed as Democratic Kampuchea....
. The central role of the peasants in national development was espoused in his 1955 thesis, The Cambodian Peasants and Their Prospects for Modernization , which challenged the conventional view that urbanization and industrialization are necessary precursors of development.
Yuon, who enjoyed great personal popularity - he was described as having "truly astounding physical and intellectual strength" - became an important figure in the community of radical Cambodian expatriates in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. He was a unanimous choice as head of the Khmer Students' Association (KSA). In 1952, along with Saloth Sar, Ieng Sary
Ieng Sary
Ieng Sary was a powerful figure in the Khmer Rouge. He was the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Democratic Kampuchea from 1975 to 1979 and held several senior positions in the Khmer Rouge until his defection to the government in 1996....
, and other leftists, Yuon gained notoriety by sending an open letter to the then-King Norodom Sihanouk
Norodom Sihanouk
Norodom Sihanouk regular script was the King of Cambodia from 1941 to 1955 and again from 1993 until his semi-retirement and voluntary abdication on 7 October 2004 in favor of his son, the current King Norodom Sihamoni...
calling him the "strangler of infant democracy." After the French authorities closed down the KSA, Yuon and Khieu Samphan
Khieu Samphan
Khieu Samphan was the president of the state presidium of Democratic Kampuchea from 1976 until 1979. As such, he served as Cambodia's head of state and was one of the most powerful officials in the Khmer Rouge movement, though Pol Pot was the group's true political leader and held the most...
helped to establish a new group, the Khmer Students' Union, in 1956.
After returning to Cambodia, Hou Yuon became a teacher of French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
at a new private high school, the Lycée Kambuboth, which he helped establish.
In Cambodian domestic politics 1958-67
Sihanouk, by now Prime Minister of an independent Cambodia, invited a number of prominent leftists, including Hou Yuon, into his SangkumSangkum
The Sangkum Reastr Niyum , commonly known simply as the Sangkum, was a political organisation set up in 1955 by Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia...
party and government to provide a balance to the right-wing. Yuon was to serve in several ministries between 1958 and 1963. He was eventually forced to resign after losing a vote of no-confidence in the National Assembly; he was considered to have committed lèse majesté
Lèse majesté
Lese-majesty is the crime of violating majesty, an offence against the dignity of a reigning sovereign or against a state.This behavior was first classified as a criminal offence against the dignity of the Roman republic in Ancient Rome...
by not following Sihanouk's demands closely enough. However, despite his open public disagreements with Sihanouk - he once accused Sihanouk of using scarce electric power to light his own street, and was the target of Sihanouk's most furious personal tirades - he approved of the Sangkum policies of nationalisation implemented after 1964.
In 1964, Yuon was also to publish a revision of his 1956 book The Co-Operative Question, which now formally proposed an alliance between socialists and Sihanouk's regime. It contained an in-depth study of how co-operative organisation might help poorer farmers and peasants, particularly in avoiding the need to use unscrupulous money-lenders, and redress the urban "oppression" of rural areas: though contrary to the line later adopted by the Khmer Rouge, Yuon identified that city workers or landowning peasants did not themselves oppress the poor peasantry.
In the 1966 National Assembly elections, Sihanouk abandoned his previous policy of nominating one candidate for each electoral district. Most leftist Sangkum deputies now had to compete with members of the traditional elite: only Hou Yuon, Hu Nim and Khieu Samphan chose to stand, their task made harder by Sihanok actively campaigning against them: nevertheless, Yuon won by a large margin in his constituency, receiving 78% of the vote. Later that year he was briefly made part of a "counter-government" set up by Sihanouk to balance the right-wing cabinet of Prime Minister Lon Nol
Lon Nol
Lon Nol was a Cambodian politician and general who served as Prime Minister of Cambodia twice, as well as serving repeatedly as Defense Minister...
. However, after the Samlaut Uprising
Samlaut Uprising
The Samlaut Uprising, or Samlaut Rebellion, was an incident that took place in 1967 in Battambang Province in Cambodia, in which the rural peasantry revolted against the Sangkum regime of the then-Head of State, Prince Norodom Sihanouk....
of 1967, Yuon was accused by Sihanouk of stirring up unrest, and threatened with arrest and possible execution: he fled to join the communist maquis, led by Saloth Sar (Pol Pot
Pol Pot
Saloth Sar , better known as Pol Pot, , was a Cambodian Maoist revolutionary who led the Khmer Rouge from 1963 until his death in 1998. From 1976 to 1979, he served as the Prime Minister of Democratic Kampuchea....
), Ieng Sary and Son Sen
Son Sen
Son Sen was a Cambodian Communist politician and soldier. A member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kampuchea/Party of Democratic Kampuchea, the Khmer Rouge, from 1974 to 1992, Sen oversaw the Party's security apparatus, including the Santebal secret police and the notorious...
, in the forests.
In the GRUNK
After the Cambodian coup of 1970Cambodian coup of 1970
The Cambodian coup of 1970 refers to the removal of the Cambodian Head of State, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, after a vote in the National Assembly on 18 March 1970. Emergency powers were subsequently invoked by the Prime Minister Lon Nol, who became effective head of state...
in which Sihanouk was ousted by Lon Nol, Yuon became a part of the GRUNK
GRUNK
The Royal Government of National Union of Kampuchea, usually known by the French acronym GRUNK, was a government-in-exile of Cambodia, based in Beijing, that was in existence between 1970 and 1976...
, the Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
-based government-in-exile that was formed as a coalition between Sihanouk and the communists. Yuon was made Minister for Cooperatives, and caused serious rifts between himself and other members of the Khmer Rouge leadership by protesting at the speed with which collectivisation was being carried out in the 'liberated' areas. As early as 1970, he had publicly criticised Pol Pot, complaining that the Party was using his name as a "screen" by making him a "puppet minister". He also argued against the abolition of markets, allegedly warning Pol Pot and Nuon Chea
Nuon Chea
Nuon Chea , also known as Long Bunruot , is a Cambodian former communist politician and former chief ideologist of Khmer Rouge. He was commonly known as "Brother Number Two" second in command to Pol Pot who was leader during the Cambodian Genocide 1975-1979...
"If you go on like this, I give your regime three years. Then it will collapse".
Yuon's outspoken criticisms of Khmer Rouge policy led to him spending a brief period in a 're-education' camp, K6, in 1974. However his personal friendship with Pol Pot and his general popularity, both with the peasantry and with expatriate Cambodian intellectuals, led to a period of reinstatement in the Party leadership during 1975.
Death
Yuon's death is thought to have been ordered by his fellow-members of the Khmer Rouge sometime after they seized power in 1975. His previous tendency to openly criticise the regime's excesses appears to have continued unabated: when entering Phnom PenhPhnom Penh
Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Located on the banks of the Mekong River, Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security,...
, which had been divided into several sectors each run by the administration of a different zone of the country, he is reported to have remarked "It's Berlin!". Several accounts exist of his death, the most common of which is related to the controversial order to evacuate Phnom Penh given after the communist victory, which Yuon is known to have opposed. In one version, related by a CPK cadre from Kampong Cham, Yuon was said to have been shot in August 1975 by a group of Khmer Rouge soldiers after he sympathetically addressed a group of evacuees at Prek Por, Srey Santhor District
Srey Santhor District
Srey Santhor District is a district located in Kampong Cham Province, Cambodia. The district capital is Srey Santhor town located on the south bank of the Mekong River around midway between Phnom Penh and the provincial capital of Kampong Cham. There are no direct roads to the district and access...
, and his body thrown into the Mekong
Mekong
The Mekong is a river that runs through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annually....
.
Other witnesses claim that Yuon was seen at a camp in Stung Treng
Stung Treng
Stung Treng is the capital of Stung Treng Province, Cambodia. It is located in the western part of the Virachey National Park.It is the major city of both the district and province and has a population of 29,665 ....
late in 1976, and most probably either died of disease, or committed suicide, while being held in the camp system. Another Khmer Rouge source claimed that Yuon was mistakenly shot by a bodyguard after being recalled to Phnom Penh.
It has been noted that in Khmer Rouge discourse after 1978, Yuon was referred to in terms indicating that he had been posthumously rehabilitated.