12 Facts About Khieu Chum

Khieu Chum was born in S'ang District in the Province of Kandal.

Khieu Chum's year of birth is believed to be the year 1907 according to Cambodian Buddhist sources, rather than 1915, which is impossible as he was younger than Pang Khat who was born in 1910.

Khieu Chum entered the Buddhist monkhood and went to study of Wat Langka under the abbot Lvea Em.

In 1942, Khieu Chum Chom joined the Umbrella Revolution along with other nationalist monks such as Hiem Chieu in Phnom Penh who were opposed to the French protectorate.

All these political prisoners were released at the end of the Second World War and Khieu Chum Chom returned to his studies as a monk in Wat Langka.

Khieu Chum was critical of certain traits of Khmer character and of lasting misunderstandings such as the selfless charity of Vessantara, which he presumed was one of the reason for the poverty of Khmer peasants.

In 1970, Khieu Chum Chom was ordained as the abbot of Wat Langka by Supreme Patriarch Huot That, a position which he kept until his assassination in 1975.

Khieu Chum was even criticized by Huot That as a revolutionary.

Khieu Chum was a student of Hem Chieu, a leading figure in the early period of modern Khmer nationalism.

Khieu Chum is most notiours for arguing that the Buddhist religion should not depend on monarchical structures.

Khieu Chum interpreted the Great Renunciation as a rejection of the monarchy by the Buddha.

In 1969, Khieu Chum wrote what is believed to be his spiritual legacy: Life is a Struggle where he showed that beyond his personal struggles and the toil of the Cambodian people, the character of the Khmer people would allow them to carry on.