So Saroeun, aka Comrade Rin, at her husband bail appeal on 03 April 2009 (Photo: Reuters)
So Saroeun, aka Comrade Rin, aka So Socheat, a fomer KR army entertainer and Khieu Samphan's wife (Photo: The Phnom Penh Post)
Grandma Ream, Khieu Samphan's 100-year-old mother-in-law
Mrs. So Sary, So Saroeun's older sisterA KR revolutionary entertainer went on to become the wife of the DK President
Wednesday, September 02, 2009
Rasmei Kampuchea
Translated from Khmer by Socheata
So Saroeun’s life and fate led her to become the wife of Khieu Samphan, the former president of the Democratic Kampuchea (Khmer Rouge) regime. So Saroeun was born in Kak Paun village, Rohas commune, Rovieng disctrict, Preah Vihear province.
Sa Saroeun’s revolutionary name was Comrade Rin. Even if there is no clear indication as to when Khieu Samphan married his wife, or how many children they had together, everybody in Rovieng district, Preah Vihear province, know that So Sareoun, aka Comrade Rin, is Khieu Samphan’s wife and she has 4 children with him. So Saroeun’s mother is currently 100-year-old and she has 6 other siblings who are currently all living in Kak Paun village. Nevertheless, this hidden mystery makes it such that the public almost do not know who Khieu Samphan’s wife really is.
In August, a Rasmei Kampuchea reporter traveled with great difficulties to visit So Sareoun’s village, and he even interviewed her mother and her siblings as well.
Kak Paun village is located about 3 km southeast of Rovieng city. The village has several hundreds of homes, including some historical ones. The village has numerous tall fruit trees, an indication that it is an existing old village.
Grandma Ream, a 100-year-old senile woman, is sitting next to her two elderly daughters. She is So Saroeun’s mother and Khieu Samphan’s mother-in-law. Grandma Ream said haphazardly: “My daughter, Sareoun, and my son-in-law, Khieu Samphan, are very poor.” So Sary, a 63-year-old woman who is So Saroeun’s sister, said: “Saroeun, my younger sister left the village around 1970, she was an entertainer for the KR army. She disappeared since then.”
She added: “After 1975, we saw So Saroeun visiting home exactly twice. She came alone and she did not tell anybody that her husband was Khieu Samphan.” So Sary said that after 1979, So Saroeun completely disappeared, and it was not until the repatriation of KR soldiers that she learnt that her sister is Khieu Samphan’s wife. So Saroeun has 4 children: 2 sons and 2 daughters. So Sary said that Khieu Samphan came to visit his mother-in-law twice under the veil of secrecy. On his first visit, Khieu Samphan spent two nights, nevertheless, the Rovieng authority rejected this information, saying that he never knew about Khieu Samphan visiting his wife’s village.
Leng Keat, a former villager and Rovieng district elementary school classmate of So Sareoun, said that So Saroeun was his classmate but later on she quit school and joined the Khmer Rouge army. Since then on, he never heard about So Sareoun anymore until it was learnt that she became Mrs. Khieu Samphan.
There is no information about the exact biography of So Saroeun, aka Comrade Rin. Nevertheless, villagers indicated that she was a “true revolutionary” because she cared very little about her mother and her siblings, but her fortunate (???) fate led her to become the wife of the DK president.
Sa Saroeun’s revolutionary name was Comrade Rin. Even if there is no clear indication as to when Khieu Samphan married his wife, or how many children they had together, everybody in Rovieng district, Preah Vihear province, know that So Sareoun, aka Comrade Rin, is Khieu Samphan’s wife and she has 4 children with him. So Saroeun’s mother is currently 100-year-old and she has 6 other siblings who are currently all living in Kak Paun village. Nevertheless, this hidden mystery makes it such that the public almost do not know who Khieu Samphan’s wife really is.
In August, a Rasmei Kampuchea reporter traveled with great difficulties to visit So Sareoun’s village, and he even interviewed her mother and her siblings as well.
Kak Paun village is located about 3 km southeast of Rovieng city. The village has several hundreds of homes, including some historical ones. The village has numerous tall fruit trees, an indication that it is an existing old village.
Grandma Ream, a 100-year-old senile woman, is sitting next to her two elderly daughters. She is So Saroeun’s mother and Khieu Samphan’s mother-in-law. Grandma Ream said haphazardly: “My daughter, Sareoun, and my son-in-law, Khieu Samphan, are very poor.” So Sary, a 63-year-old woman who is So Saroeun’s sister, said: “Saroeun, my younger sister left the village around 1970, she was an entertainer for the KR army. She disappeared since then.”
She added: “After 1975, we saw So Saroeun visiting home exactly twice. She came alone and she did not tell anybody that her husband was Khieu Samphan.” So Sary said that after 1979, So Saroeun completely disappeared, and it was not until the repatriation of KR soldiers that she learnt that her sister is Khieu Samphan’s wife. So Saroeun has 4 children: 2 sons and 2 daughters. So Sary said that Khieu Samphan came to visit his mother-in-law twice under the veil of secrecy. On his first visit, Khieu Samphan spent two nights, nevertheless, the Rovieng authority rejected this information, saying that he never knew about Khieu Samphan visiting his wife’s village.
Leng Keat, a former villager and Rovieng district elementary school classmate of So Sareoun, said that So Saroeun was his classmate but later on she quit school and joined the Khmer Rouge army. Since then on, he never heard about So Sareoun anymore until it was learnt that she became Mrs. Khieu Samphan.
There is no information about the exact biography of So Saroeun, aka Comrade Rin. Nevertheless, villagers indicated that she was a “true revolutionary” because she cared very little about her mother and her siblings, but her fortunate (???) fate led her to become the wife of the DK president.
5 comments:
Samamith Rin,Samamith Sihanouk,Samamith Ho,Samamith Duch,Samamith Vo Nguyen Giap,Samamith Monique............
"Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn't learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn't learn a little, at least we didn't get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn't die; so, let us all be thankful."Our Lord Buddha
Khmer love singing and dancing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUoUhC-fHfM&feature=channel
some people needed to be educated well. ignorance is the root of all evil in the world, not just cambodia. please don't quit school.
maybe they are guilty by association. mistake of the past, so please learn from that!
mith neary, why you and KR group have to kill and starve people? why don't your radical group be smart about it? you didn't have to kill and destroy cambodia with your stupid revolutionary backward vision! look what your group did to cambodia, destroy and milliion of khmer people died. everything khmer people stood for almost destroyed completely, thanks to your stupid stone age, hunter gatherer idiotic, ignorant vision! i hope you all rod in hell! god will punish you all for what you did to cambodia and khmer people!
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