The party was formed by the politician and soldier
Nhiek Tioulong and police chief Lon Nol. Its nominal leader was the respected Prince
Sisowath Monipong, one of the two sons of King
Sisowath Monivong and one of the candidates for the throne passed over in favor of Sihanouk in 1941. Other prominent members included
Chau Sen Cocsal Chhum, who advised Tioulong and Nol in founding the party, and Chuop Hell. The party, known informally as the "Renos", had a socially conservative and royalist program - albeit far more pro-independence than that of the similarly conservative
Liberal Party of Prince
Norodom Norindeth - and attracted high-ranking bureaucrats and several members of the royal family as well as military officers. Khmer Renovation's "quasi-feudalist" perspective, which emphasized Cambodia and its monarchy's place in world history and the postcolonial order, was symbolized by its chosen
symbol of the Earth Goddess superimposed on a map of the protectorate. Nhiek Tioulong was to become Prime Minister under the Sangkum, and was later to become a prominent figure in the pro-royalist
FUNCINPEC organization. Lon Nol was also to become Prime Minister but, along with Sirik Matak, was to lead the 1970 coup deposing Sihanouk and instigating the
Khmer Republic. ==References==