Thach Chov: A former student of Khieu Samphan

Bunthorn Som



Thach Chov, age 80, was born at North Dai Teung village, Song Lok sub-district, Travinh province, South Vietnam . After the Khmer Rouge regime collapsed, Thach Chov served as a chair of the education department at Svay Rieng province for over two decades. Today as a retired official, Thach assists an orphanage center in Svay Rieng town.



Early life



Thach has four siblings. His father was Thach Long and his mother was Thach Ieng. His father, Thach Long, was conscripted into the French Army and then was sent to Europe to fight during WWI. When he was young, Thach Chov spoke Vietnamese poorly, so it was hard to communicate with the Vietnamese in Vietnam . Because of this challenge, Thach’s father sent him to a Vietnamese school where he studied for three years. Afterward, Thach went to study at a Franco-Khmer school for Ethnic Khmer in Travinh provincial town, South Vietnam . Vietnamese attended a Franco-Vietnamese school that was completely different from the Franco-Khmer school. At the Franco-Khmer class, Thach studied with Son Sen, who later became defense minister during the Democratic Kampuchea era (1975-1979). Thach said that his and Son Sen’s houses are just about one kilometer away from each other. As close classmates, young Thach and Sen packed lunch to eat at school every day; ate together and came home together in the evening. The school was about 6 km from Thach’s house.



Later, the Issarak movement, a resistance group fighting against the French, released propaganda at Dai Teung village. Viet Minh troops arrived at the village shortly after. Fearing his safety, Thach quit school for a short period of time. However, Son Sen did not and after completing Travinh School, he went on to pursue further studies at a pedagogy school in Phnom Penh . The Issarak Movement and the Viet Minh often forced people to join their movement. In order to avoid persecution, Thach was ordained as a monk after quitting school. Later, Thach thought of leaving his monkhood and going back to school, but his French teacher would not readmit him because he had been away from school for a long time already and would not be able to catch up with other students in the class. His teacher told him to go back home to help parents herd the cows and rice farm.



Thach was pretty upset with his teacher. Because he always wanted to study, Thach asked his parent to go to Phnom Penh so that he could continue his studies.



In 1951, Thach left the monkhood and decided to take a boat from South Vietnam to Phnom Penh although he had nowhere to stay. On the boat traveling to Phnom Penh , Thach met a monk from Travinh who went to study Pali in Phnom Penh . The monk offered him a place to stay at Unalom pagoda because he had a friend who was a monk there. Unfortunately, arriving at Unalom, Thach did not meet the monk he had been told to meet. Instead, Thach met with a deputy head of the monastery who would not let him stay at Unalom because there was no room.



Because he had no other options, Thach begged the deputy head for his permission to sleep in the kitchen. The deputy head agreed. One day, Thach accidently met another monk who was also from South Vietnam who came to teach at Dei Ith School in Kien Svay district and who used to stay at Unalom Pagoda. The monk invited Thach to stay with him at Dei Ith School. Thach agreed and he stayed there for one and a half years and studied until he completed 7th grade at Junior High School.



At that time he was 21 and too old to go to high school, as students had to be less than 16 years of age to attend. Instead, Thach decided to attend the Pedagogy School for Primary School level teachers located behind Sisowath High School (Present-day Don Penh Junior Primary School). At this pedagogy school Thach had Khieu Samphan as a teacher during his first year. Thach said that at the pedagogy school Khieu Samphan taught him mathematics around three hours per week. “Khieu Samphan was a thoughtful and serious teacher; he never shared jokes with other students and he was very strict during the exam,” said Thach, “however, he was favored by students; he was quiet, but he explained the lesson so clearly.”



During his second year at Pedagogy School , Thach never saw Khieu Samphan again. Thach assumed that he went to France for further education, although Khieu Samphan didn’t say anything to his students about this. After Khieu Samphan left, a French teacher replaced him in mathematics class. All students complained and were upset because the new teacher did not explain the lesson well and all the students had trouble understanding French.



Thach spent five years at pedagogy school and in 1956 he graduated. He was assigned by the State to teach at Preah Monivong High School in Battambang town. After teaching there for two years, Thach returned Phnom Penh to continue his studies at the National Institute of Pedagogy (present-day National Institute of Education), located near Independence Monument . There, Professor Keng Vansack was the president and his former classmate, Son Sen, was a vice-president. During his first year at the National Institute of Pedagogy, Thach had a chance to visit his homeland in South Vietnam during school vacation. Son Sen did not go, but he asked Thach to send a message to his parents and relatives there. This was the last time Thach met with and the last words he received from Son Sen. When Thach returned to Phnom Penh from South Vietnam to continue his second year at school, he no long saw Son Sen. He was told that that Son Sen left Phnom Penh to join the resistance movement against the Sihanouk government.



In 1961, Thach completed his studies at the National Institute of Pedagogy and then he was assigned to teach at Baphnom High School in Prey Veng province. Thach said that he was very careful in teaching and he always helped needy students. Therefore, he was very much favored by his students and their parents. Soon, Thach was promoted to be the president of Baphnom High School , a position he held until 1970 when there was chaos after the coup, causing students to quit school and join Khmer Rouge movement. The Khmer Rouge took over the village soon afterwards and organized people into mutual aid teams. The school was shut down. Because the situation at Baphnom was not secure, Thach asked the Ministry of Education to transfer him to present-day Svay Rieng High School on the basis that this new place was nearer for him and his children. At Svay Rieng High School , Thach served as the director of the governance office.



He served in that position until the Khmer Rouge achieved victory over the country. After the Khmer Rouge took power, Thach and his family were evacuated to Tasuos village in late 1975. Staying there for seven days, he was separated from his wife and children when Khmer Rouge cadre told him to join a meeting at Chheu Teal village, Svay Chrum district. He could not bring any clothes with him. Instead, the Khmer Rouge cadre brought him to a school located at Prey Beung village, Meun Chey sub-district, Romduol district, and then to study about Communist Party of Kampuchea Party morals and the division of people (New and Old people) for three weeks. After he left Tasuos village, he and his family were separated.



In 1976, Thach was allowed to return to Tasuos sub-district and hoped that he could reunite with his family. However, he did not meet with them and later he found out that all his family members had fled to Vietnam . However, Thach was not persecuted and he was assigned to work in fertilizer making unit in which his team was responsible for collecting human waste to make fertilizer.



Meeting an old friend



One morning at around 10 am, when Thach was walking home from work, he spotted his old friend whom he had not met for a long time. It was Son Sen. Thach said that he saw Son Sen in a Jeep with some bodyguards traveling to the border area to see the troops near Tasuos Pagoda. However, Son Sen did not see him and he dared not call his name. The two did not talk and they were separated again.



Forcing to marry



Thach never stop missing his wife and family who successfully fled to Vietnam . Back in Cambodia , Thach was asked by the Khmer Rouge cadre to marry twice. He refused. Thach tried to convince the Khmer Rouge cadre that he preferred and did not mind living alone. One day when he was walking to the fertilizer making unit, he met with a former student from Baphnom High School who was now a chief of the social affairs unit. The student still respected Thach as his teacher, stopped his bicycle, took his hat off and shouted at Thach, “Teacher! Do you recognize me?” Thach was unable to recognize him because he stopped teaching there six years previously and he had lots of students. Thach replied “I recognize your face, but I forgot your name.” It was this student who save Thach’s life. Thach said, “My student told the group leader and sub-district secretary to look after me and told them that I was a [Khmer Rouge] agent who spied Lon Nol government in Svay Rieng before 1975.” However, his student also said that Thach had to accept Angkar’s request to marry; otherwise, he would be killed. Knowing this, Thach agreed to marry; however, many women refused because he was originally from Vietnam and the women were worried that their lives would be endangered if they decided to marry Thach. Nevertheless, one woman decided to marry him although she knew about Thach’s identity. The couple lives together until today in Svay Rieng provincial town.



After the Khmer Rouge collapsed in 1979, Thach managed to go to Phnom Penh and was asked by the Minister of Education to serve as the president of the education department in Svay Rieng Province . Today at 80 years of age, a retired Thach Chov spends his time teaching French and helping the orphanage center in Svay Rieng town.