[7] Chea Sim was considered an important figure when negotiations happened, resulting in the 1991 Paris Peace Accord, which brokered a deal supposed to end three decades of civil war and paved the way for the U.N.-organized elections in 1993.

In the same year, he was escorted out of the country after refusing to sign off as acting head of state on changing the constitution, which would eventually help the CPP and the Funcinpec parties form a coalition government under the deal between Hun Sen and prince Norodom Ranariddh.

He was absent from the 63rd anniversary celebrations of the CPP in June 2014, following years in which age and illness from high blood pressure, diabetes, and other chronic ailments forced him to back away from his roles and receive medical care in Vietnam.

[11] Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith criticized The Phnom Penh Post for publishing an article which accused Chea Sim of violating human rights under the Khmer Rouge regime.

Khieu Kanharith said that in the Cambodian tradition, respect for the dead is very important during the mourning ceremony and that The Phnom Penh Post could be sued if Chea Sim's family members wished to do so.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Interior strongly rejected the comments made by Director of Asia Division for Human Rights Watch and quoted by The Phnom Penh Post.

Once considered as the second most powerful man in the government after Hun Sen, Chea Sim, as Rainsy said, was highly regarded for his patriotic ideals and national reconciliation after the Khmer Rouge.