Cambodia has certainly endured its share of turbulent times. Its long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen will soon go to the polls. The Diplomat profiles him here.
PHNOM PENH – Cambodia has never enjoyed the kind of political clout its neighbors Thailand and Vietnam have been able to assert on the international stage. This issue does not sit well with Prime Minister Hun Sen, who wants to see his country’s standing improve significantly.
But the key to raising Cambodia’s stature is Hun Sen’s own success. After 28 years in power, he is by far the region’s longest-serving elected leader.
His autocratic style and a pronouncement that he would like to stay in power until he is 90 has won Hun Sen stately comparisons with Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew from his friends…and less flattering parallels with Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe by his critics.
With the recent passing of Cambodia’s former monarch Norodom Sihanouk — a constant political and royal figure in Cambodian life for the last 70 years — and the bullying of opponents out of electoral prominence, the 60-year-old premier now stands alone.
He likes to remind Cambodians and foreigners alike that only he controls the military and the police, and that the stability he delivered after ending three decades of war in 1998 has underpinned the economic growth that is raising living standards across the country.
That assumption of control gnaws at human rights activists and civil society groups who squarely blame Hun Sen for the ills that have afflicted Cambodia during the last 15 years of peace.
And there are many.
Corruption, electoral-related violence and a culture of impunity among the politically connected and well-heeled has created a rift between his government and the overwhelming majority of Cambodians whose daily lives are still dictated by a hand-to-mouth existence.
The killing of a high profile environmentalist and the jailing of a broadcaster for 20 years in 2012 raised the tempo on Cambodia’s human rights violations, which was a major focus during last November’s visit by Barack Obama — the first trip to this country by a sitting U.S. president.
“Hun Sen does get blamed for every ill that blights this country but how much he really knows about what his subordinates do and what he does about it — or what he does not do about it -– remains tightly guarded,” said one long-term observer.
A Pagoda Boy with a Puritan Streak
Prudish with a famous temper, Hun Sen was born in August 1952, the third of six children in central Cambodia. At age 12 he moved to Phnom Penh to study while living in a pagoda, a common practice for impoverished children who come in from the countryside to study.
A few years later, when the Khmer Rouge were in the ascendancy, he became a foot soldier and rose to the rank of deputy regional commander as the ultra-Maoists seized control of the country in 1975 and embarked on their bloody reign of terror. He married Bun Rany, a field nurse, a year later in a mass ceremony.
Under Pol Pot, the communists divided the country into sections and Hun Sen was deployed to the Eastern Region of Democratic Kampuchea, as it was called during the Khmer Rouge era, an area near the Vietnamese border that had largely escaped the massive purges and executions. He lost his left eye during a firefight and says his sight is now limited to 200 meters.
As the death toll mounted, so did Khmer Rouge defections. The eastern zone of what was then Democratic Kampuchea was targeted by Communist leaders, prompting Hun Sen to flee to Vietnam where Hanoi was tiring of Pol Pot’s cross-border incursions and was assembling a force of troops opposed to the Khmer Rouge.
The Vietnamese-backed offensive was launched over Christmas 1978 and was completed two weeks later. The Khmer Rouge was pushed into the country’s isolated northwest from where they maintained a low-level civil war for the next two decades.
Hun Sen was rewarded and fast-tracked through the ranks of the Vietnamese-installed government, becoming foreign minister in 1979 and the world’s youngest prime minster in 1985 at age 33.
In the 1980s, he survived at least three attempts on his life and was a constant target for assassination by the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge and Western-supported insurgencies that had coalesced along the Thai border and put aside their intense loathing of the ultra-Maoists to fight a common enemy — a Vietnamese-sponsored regime.
It was a battle that lasted until 1989 and the end of the Cold War. A United Nations intervention aimed at building a democracy followed Vietnam’s withdrawal and Hun Sen then took the biggest gamble of his political career, convinced he would win the 1993 election. But when he lost, his mean streak emerged.
Hugely embarrassed, he refused to accept the results. Through his Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), he maintained control of the military and a 100,000-strong bureaucracy forcing the UN — which had failed in its mandate to disarm the warring parties — to negotiate.
A cohabitation government was formed with Prince Norodom Ranariddh of the royal Funcinpec Party as First Prime Minister and Hun Sen as second.
Prince Ranariddh tapped into the wealth of support commonly reserved for his father and the agreement was only struck after King Sihanouk intervened and sponsored negotiations. The King also bestowed on Hun Sen the title of “Samdech”, meaning “Lord”.
But the alliance was a disaster from the start. Hun Sen used his forces to oust Ranariddh in 1997 and won violence-marred elections a year later. In similar fashion, Hun Sen rounded up the Khmer Rouge, amid mass defections, and finally ended decades of war in late 1998.
Only then could the marathon efforts to put Pol Pot's surviving henchmen on trial for war crimes begin.
Over the next decade Hun Sen’s political opponents were handled with ruthless efficiency, while the prime minister maintained a public face of respectability, as peace took root. Opposition leader Sam Rainsy still lives in self-imposed exile in France.
During this period, Hun Sen ended illegal television broadcasts by pornography channels. In routine crackdowns on the capital's risqué nightlife, he ordered women to wear dresses with hems below the knees. Bars were closed and at times he even banned Western music and dance.
Hun Sen holds the UN responsible for introducing AIDS into Cambodia during the early 1990s and is prone to exaggerating his golf handicap. More than 300 schools bear his name and he loathes being referred to as a former Khmer Rouge cadre. Like many others, he had little choice but to join.
The Push for Strategic Influence
In recent years, Hun Sen has played a rough game of international diplomacy. He has pushed Cambodia firmly within China’s sphere of influence, providing a buffer between U.S. ally Thailand and Vietnam, a traditional enemy of both Cambodia and China.
He recently signed a military deal with Beijing. The Asahi Shimbun reported that "Cambodia will use part of a $195 million loan from China to buy 12 of its military helicopters and boost its tiny fleet…"
This was not quite what Western nations had in mind when they first reappeared in Cambodia alongside the UN with generous offers of aid. However, Hun Sen says he tires of Western carping over Cambodia’s human rights record and claims Chinese aid and soft loans arrive with no strings attached.
That is questionable. Last year, as Phnom Penh took its turn as chair of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Cambodia acquiesced on regional unity and backed Beijing over its stand on the South China Sea.
This split ASEAN like never before and brought Cambodia into direct opposition with fellow members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei, which have competing maritime claims with China in the disputed seas.
Such a stand raised Cambodia’s diplomatic profile but proved costly in terms of relations with its nearest neighbors, prompting reminders that the last time China held such sway over Cambodian foreign policy was during the dark days of the Khmer Rouge.
As a result, Cambodia is walking a political tightrope. This has the added dimension of Washington’s rebalancing of power into East Asia. Further complicating matters is the record of Hun Sen’s government, which includes long-standing accusations of corruption and excessive use of violence. Indeed former King Sihanouk had long charged that the government’s addiction to easy money had made Cambodia dependent on donors.
Hun Sen’s greatest asset — as even his opponents acknowledge -– was that he secured what this country needed most–peace. But Cambodia’s dark past is now consigned to the history books. If Hun Sen truly is in control then he needs to combat corruption, end the culture of impunity and punish those who have committed horrendous crimes of their own in more recent years.
Photo Credit: Wikicommons
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Kim’s Uncle
@Be way, who armed the Khmer Rouge? I supposed the KR manufactured those Chinese made AKs, RPGs, SKS rifles, mortars, etc.???? The only people who armed the KR are your comrades China. Please do not denied factual things people know all to well! If Chinese can seriously look at critically their actions of the past based on facts and acknowledge their complicity of a crime against humanity, then it will be to china’s benefit as people will respect her more just as Russians today acknowledge the crimes of Stalin. Denial is a trait of childishness!
tocharian
Was that a Freudian slip in your header? "Middle Earth"? Sounds like Zhong Guo "Middle Kingdom"!
In my opinion, Hun Sen is becoming a Chinese "stooge" working hard for the "Greta Economic Leapfrog Forward" of the Han Chinese, mainly for his own personal wealth and power. Chinese are good at that kind of strategy (coercion and corruption). Besides, as Sun Tzu said: "Let the barbarians fight each other" (Khmer Rouge, Khmer Blanc lol)
What Asia needs is a French Revolution of sorts. Otherwise most Asian countries will always be ruled by an oligarchy that is connected by "guanxi" (patronage, nepotism, etc.) using the undemocratic methods of bribery and bullying. The poor (mainly uneducated) rural people (99%) in Southeast Asia have no voice!
Bill Herod
Good article – covers a great deal of complex history in a useful summary. As with any synopsis, I would quibble with a few details, but must offer one correction. Hun Sen is said to have been a "deputy regional commander" under the Khmer Rouge. In fact, most sources agree, he was a deputy regimental commander – a far less significant position (a KR regiment had around 2,000 troops). It is also worth noting that Hun Sen is said to have lost his eye in battle in April 1975, just at the beginning of Khmer Rouge control of Cambodia, so would have been recovering from that injury during much of his time under the Khmer Rouge until his defection to Viet-Nam in 1977.
Kim’s Uncle
People have to understand dumb commie logic! VC, CCP, Khmer Rouge, Hun Sen, etc. were all commie fraternal brothers at one point but true to their commie culture of backstabbing and selling each other out, they start to turn on each other. That's how cruel, and barbaric the commie culture is. Do you see S.Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Germany fighting the US?? Nope democracies have real friends and allies while commie countries fight like mad dogs!!!! LOL You can easily turn a commie country given the right price.. he he… That's why commie culture is so destructive to all humankind. This earth would be a paradise without fundamentalist Al Qaeda and Commies!
Be Way
@Old Uncle
Except for North Korea, nobody is practicing communism nowadays. Not Russia, not China, not even Cambodia. So can you stop all your nonsense lest people will think the old uncle is senile.
Kangmin Zheng
@Kim's Uncle,
Agreed. All communist regimes are bad and evil. Communist Russia killed 100+ mil peope. Communist Chinese killed 70+ mil and crushed peaceful protesters by tanks and invaded Tibet. Communist China is the ring leader. This ring leader is a cancer to world peace. Once the ring leader is destroyed the rest will vanish.
Khemara Kim
For the survival of Cambodia, Cambodia must stay way from Vietnam, Thailand, and communist China. However for the survival of Hun Sen dictatorship in Cambodia, Hun Sen has to pick China over Vietnam.
Tom F
To put it bluntly, Cambodia as a nation, as a culture was extinguished when the CCP extended its reach via the Khmer Rouge decades ago. Its culture, intellectuals, insititutions, and PEOPLE were decimated. Why? Unsuccessful at approaching Vietnam from the north, the CCP tried the western border using Cambodia. Hun Sen was just an opportunistic puppet of Vietnam (also a communist thug), and it seems he is now just taking Cambodia back into the CCP's fold. Nothing has changed really, the CCP will now just complete its extinguishment of Cambodia.
What the west perceive to be a rising nation is just a dying nation on its last breath. Cambodia's neighbours see it for what it is, a side door into Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
Be Way
@Tom,
To put it more bluntly, if anyone will to follow your ideology logic of blaming CCP for Khmer Rouge's genocide, then Soviet should be blamed for Mao's genocide, and finally Karl Marx should be blamed for Stalin and Lenin's genocide. In conclusion, Communism – the rotten product of the West, is the filthy mother of all genocides.
Kangmin Zheng
Xi will follow Hu to bribe and subvert Cambodia. It's CCP characteristics.
mary pham
The gamble that Hun Sen took is shortsighted for immediate gain at the expense of long-term stability for Cambodian people. By siding with the murderous Chinese that assisted Khmer Rouge's killing field and turned against the Vietnamese that sacrificed for the new Cambodia, Hun Sen will watch the gradual assimilation of Khmer culture by Chinese and the complete loss of political control of his country. The Cambodian people will soon recognize this coming tragedy and Hun Sen will be lucky to hold on to power pass his 60's, not anywhere near 90's.
Keqing
He is a really great dog for China. The leash must be put on too tight though.
American Dog
Listen to the American dog – the Pseudo Chinese "Keqing" – bark! Get yourself a real job, shill.
Alan
Really informative and interesting profile – provides a clear picture of where Cambodia stands under Hun Sen and what future issues may arise under his likely continued leadership.
Washington Smear Machine
So, begins the hatchet job by Washington on any supporters of Beijing. Sickening. Is Obama in control of right wing agencies and departments under him?
PP Expat
"So, begins the hatchet job by Washington on any supporters of Beijing."
Sorry, what? This is – at the very least – an even handed portrait of Hun Sen. As a resident of Cambodia and seeing the manifestations of gross gross political corruption on a daily basis, this actually seems to be a glowing representation of Hun Sen.
Jim Patterson
Sorry, bud, I don't agree with you. He's being villified ever since Washington's lackey, Manila, did not get its way at the Asean meeting.
Nene7Shumal
Manila was not the only offended party, other ASEAN leaders did not get opportunity to have a resolution on the growing aggression in the sea lanes. The protocols were not followed properly, would’ve been a great forum to address issues. History now shows where Cambodia stands. The story is factual fair and balanced in my opinion.