The long-awaited Heng Samrin autobiography is finally coming. Samrin defected from the Khmer Rouge, took up arms with the Vietnamese and arrived in Phnom Penh in early 1979 with a fresh group of soldiers ready to turn politician, Hun Sen among them.

Chat Tomuk had a preview and can tell you that Samrin talks about life as a village child tending cattle, his time in a monastery and as a teacher before heading to the maquis, where he joined the Khmer Rouge, curried favour with Pol Pot and became commander of the 126^th regiment in the Eastern Zone. He recounts battles with Lon Nol troops before deployment for a final assault on the capital. Following the fall of Phnom Penh, he commanded the Fourth Division until 1978, when Pol Pot began circulating lists of traitors and the purge of Khmer Rouge ranks got under way.

• Tags: Chat Tomuk, Issue 4