His Excellency
Khieu Kanharith
MP
ខៀវ កញ្ញារីទ្ធ
Kanharith in 2012
Minister of Information
In office
14 July 2004 – 22 August 2023
Prime MinisterHun Sen
Preceded byLou Lay Sreng
Succeeded byNeth Pheaktra
Member of Parliament
for Kampong Cham
Assumed office
5 September 2018
In office
25 November 1998 – 27 July 2008
Member of Parliament
for Phnom Penh
In office
1993–1998
Member of Parliament
for Kandal
In office
1981–1993
Personal details
Born (1951-09-13) 13 September 1951
Phnom Penh, Cambodia, French Indochina
Political partyCambodian People's Party
SpouseTep Rainsy
ChildrenKhieu Tep Sathya
Alma materRoyal University of Law and Economics
ProfessionPolitician, editor, author

Khieu Kanharith (Khmer: ខៀវ កញ្ញារីទ្ធ; born 13 September 1951) is a Cambodian politician and the current Minister of Information.[1]

Kanharith was born in Phnom Penh to Khieu Than, who was a customs official and his wife Lor Lienghorn. In 1969 he completed his baccalauréat studies and was studying diplomacy and law when the country fell to the Khmer Rouge in 1975. In the early days of the People's Republic of Kampuchea, he began to work for the United Front for the National Salvation of Kampuchea, first as second assistant secretary-general to the Central Committee. He also taught at the Front's political training school.[2] Kanharith began working for Kampuchea, the first Cambodian newspaper after the Pol Pot period and one of the most important newspapers throughout the 1980s,[3][4] By August 1982 he was editor-in-chief.[2] He was first elected to the National Assembly of Cambodia in 1981. In 1989 he was named to the National Council of the Solidarity Front for Development and Defense of Kampuchea.[2] He was jailed briefly in 1990 for suspicion of dissident activities. Despite this, in 1991, Prime Minister Hun Sen asked him to serve as an advisor on the Council of Ministers. He also served on the Secretariat of the Supreme National Council, the body representing the four Cambodian factions which had signed the Paris Peace Agreements.[3] During the period of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), he became an official spokesman for the State of Cambodia. Following UNTAC, in May 1993, he was elected to the Constituent Council. He was made Minister of Information the same year. From 1994 to 2004 he held the lower rank of Secretary of State of the Ministry of Information, but it was widely recognized that he continued to be the most powerful figure in the ministry. He was once again elected to the National Assembly in 1998.[2] He regained the title of Minister of Information in 2004.[3] He was conferred an Honorary Doctoral Degree in Information and Communications from The University of Cambodia in 2011.[5]

[2] He is also an author and translator, and has produced an unauthorized Khmer language version of the James Clavell novel Shōgun, which he has had printed with his own money.[4] He also translated Ben Kiernan's How Pol Pot Came to Power into Khmer.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Cambodia — Central Intelligence Agency". www.cia.gov. Archived from the original on 2007-06-12.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Corfield, Justin (2003). Historical Dictionary of Cambodia. Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press. p. 211.
  3. 1 2 3 Marston, John (2011) "Im Sokha and Cambodian Satirical Cartoons." International Journal of Comic Art Vol. 13 (1): pp. 32-58.
  4. 1 2 Translating a Novel, Minister Turns a New Page by Ethan Plaut, January 13, 2006, at the Cambodia Daily
  5. ↑ "Information minister receives honorary doctor degree of Information and Communications". Agence Kampuchea Presse. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
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