Tong Siv Eng, 82, one of Cambodia’s prominent female politicians, who was Minister of Health and Minister of Social Action during the 1950s and 60s, died Tuesday in a Bangkok Hospital.
Her body was flown back to Cambodia on Thursday. A cremation ceremony, which King Norodom Sihanouk has been invited to oversee, will be announced.
Tong Siv Eng was a member of parliament and acting president of the National Assembly in past decades. More recently, she was a member of the State of Council.
“She is considered Cambodia’s first heroine,” said Kek Galabru, Tong Siv Eng’s eldest daughter, the founder of the human rights group Licadho. “I want the King to chair the cremation ceremony because she had served him for many years.”
Her husband, Pung Peng Cheng, 84, is member of the Supreme Council of the King and a former member of the Constitutional Council.