Son Sann 1911-2000

Veteran politician Son Sann, former Cambodian Prime Minister and founder of the 1980sThai-border

based Khmer Peoples National Liberation Front (KPNLF) and its 1990s political successor

the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party, died in Paris of heart failure on Dec 19.

"Son Sann was a man of great dignity, high intelligence, fervent religious belief

and great probity... qualities that set him apart from some of his high ranking colleagues,"

Cambodia historian David Chandler told the Post in an emailed assessment of Sann's

life and achievements. "Son Sann tried very hard to introduce a pluralist dimension

into Cambodian politics in the 1990s, and for a time he attracted deep loyalty from

a great many people, but his party was riven with factionalism and pluralism has

no deep roots in Cambodian realpolitik."

Sann's body will arrive in Cambodia on Dec 24 and will lie in state at the home of

his son, Constitutional Council member Son Soubert , prior to cremation on Jan 3.