17 Facts About Hu Nim

Hu Nim, alias "Phoas", was a Cambodian Communist intellectual and politician who held a number of ministerial posts.

Hu Nim was born in 1932 in the village of Korkor, Kampong Siem District, Kampong Cham Province to a Sino-Khmer family.

Hu Nim married in 1952, and subsequent to finishing his studies worked briefly as a teacher.

Hu Nim continued his work for the Democratic Party up to the 1955 elections, which handed power to Prince Norodom Sihanouk's Sangkum movement amidst an atmosphere of extreme political intimidation and possible vote-rigging.

Hu Nim was to take this route in 1955: intending to become a customs officer, he studied at the Customs School and law school in Paris, travelling several hours every day by Metro to get to his place of study.

Hu Nim returned to Cambodia in 1957 to work as a customs official, but from this point his political involvement was to increase substantially.

Sihanouk, having effectively destroyed the ability of the Democratic Party and the socialist Pracheachon opposition to function, now made an attempt to co-opt young leftists into the Sangkum movement; amongst the prospective candidates Hou Yuon, Chau Sau, Uch Ven and Hu Nim all won seats.

Hu Nim became Under-Secretary of State in the office of the Prime Minister, and held a variety of junior ministerial posts over the next nine months.

The 1966 elections resulted in domination of the Sangkum by its rightist elements, though thanks to his local popularity, Hu Nim was able to retain his seat, despite Sihanouk actively campaigning against him.

Hu Nim was briefly made part of a leftist "counter-government" set up by Sihanouk to balance Lon Nol's right-wing cabinet, but from this point the political tide was to turn against the remaining leftists who had not already joined the Communist underground movement.

Hu Nim was later to write that he initially joined them, but returned to the capital after a few days, having been persuaded by senior cadre Vorn Vet that it might be profitable to continue engagement with Sihanouk and persist in anti-government agitation.

Hu Nim was to spend the next three years in the Cardamoms as part of the Communist guerrilla movement.

Sihanouk established a Beijing-based government-in-exile, the GRUNK, in collaboration with his former communist enemies, and Hu Nim - now described by Sihanouk as one "of our outstanding intellectuals" was made one of its most prominent figures as Minister for Information.

Hu Nim was to gain a reputation as one of the more outspoken members of the Party, being generally in favour of more moderate economic policies.

Hu Nim was to continue in his post as Minister of Information after the 1975 Communist victory in the Cambodian Civil War, and the establishment of Democratic Kampuchea after the remaining Sihanoukists were purged from the administration.

Hu Nim was later implicated in a confession made by Northern Zone commander Koy Thuon, another former schoolteacher, and was arrested by the Party security apparatus on 10 April 1977.

Hu Nim appears to have only reluctantly implicated himself in 'counterrevolutionary' activity, even displaying what in relative terms seems "extraordinary courage" by including criticism of the Party Standing Committee in his notes.