Khmer Hot News | Sam Rainsy |18/08/2015/#12| Separatist movements[edit] Khmer nationalist Son Ngoc Thanh (1908–77) was a Khmer krom, born in Trà Vinh, Vietnam. Thanh was active in the independence movement for Cambodia. With Japanese support he became the leader of Cambodia in March 1945 but was then quickly ousted with the return of the French later that year. Widely supported every Khmer Krom during the First Indochina War, Thanh's role faded in Vietnam after 1954 as he Khmer News | Cambodia News | RFA, Khmer Krom, CNRP