A Hun (Sen) Dynasty In The Making?

The Hun clan with Hun Manet standing in the far left

Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Editorial by Khmerization
On the web at http://khmerization.blogspot.com

“Despite past rumours and past denials, people are not easily gullible enough to believe that Mr. Hun Sen has given up the idea of a political dynasty. This time, by constantly and publicly berating and castigating the critics of his son’s possible entering into the political arena, Mr. Hun Sen has no doubt left the impression that people are seeing a political dynasty in the making in Cambodia.”

The issue of Hun Manet succeeding his father, Prime Minister Hun Sen, has popped up so very often that deserves my attention and warrants my comments. But before I launch into a barrage of personal opinions and factual history, I would like to draw some analogy in regard to Mr. Hun Sen’s future political dynasty. (Read Hun Sen's speech about Hun Manet's political future here).

It is interesting to note that, while the PM has constantly likened himself to Sdech Korn, a usurper of peasant background who assassinated the king and enthroned himself, he has not yet likened himself to Attila the Hun (AD 434), a conqueror whose Hunnic Empire spanned across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Considering that the great Mongolian conquerors, Genghis Khan (1162-1227) and his grandson, Kublai Khan (1215-1294) had claimed to have descended from the Huns (pronounced ‘hunt as in hunting’), and with a surname of Hun (this one pronounced ‘Houn’), one would have expected the PM to make claims to have been descended from the Huns as well, rather than likening himself to a re-incarnation of Sdech Korn, a mediocre king, who was nothing without his brutal usurpation.

History aside and let’s move to the topic of discussion- Mr. Hun Sen’s grooming of his son to succeed him as the prime minister.

It’s been well known within the Cambodian political circle that Prime Minister Hun Sen has been trying to groom his son, Hun Manet, as a future Cambodian leader some time ago. During the 1998 election, there has been rumours that Mr. Hun Sen had unsuccessfully floated the idea of appointing Hun Manet to the position of Commander-in-Chief and Minister of Defence.

In order to put the rumours to rest, in 2007, Mr. Hun Sen has hysterically and strenuously denied the rumours that Hun Manet was about to stand as a member of parliament in the seat of Siem Reap province. Mr Hun Sen’s denial has not put the rumours to rest, because people viewed Hun Manet’s persistent and continuous charity works as an attempt to shore up his good guy image in preparation for his political future. And as early as this week, Mr. Hun Sen has publicly declared that he would like Hun Manet to serve in the army. His political detractors see this as yet another sign of Hun Sen using a military career as a stepping stone for Hun Manet to enter the political arena.

Despite past rumours and past denials, people are not easily gullible enough to believe that Mr. Hun Sen has given up the idea of a political dynasty. This time, by constantly and publicly berating and castigating the critics of his son’s possible entering into the political arena, Mr. Hun Sen has no doubt left the impression that people are seeing a political dynasty in the making in Cambodia.

One more unconvincing reason is that, it is very uncharacteristic and peculiar of Mr. Hun Sen to launch a pre-emptive strike of denials, before people even heard the accusations about his son’s political future. By denying before the accusations had been made, Mr. Hun Sen has no doubt left the impression that he is in a defensive mode and that, due to his persistence and perseverance, Mr. Hun Sen is actually grooming his son to succeed himself.

Hun Manet’s political venture or the lack of it, has been a constant issue that has shaken Mr. Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party’s (CPP) circle to the core. The ideas that Mr. Hun Sen is grooming his son to be his successor has caused a stir within the minds of the CPP’s old guards who sternly opposed the ideas.

To political old-timers, Hun Manet is has all the traits and characteristics to lead Cambodia. Arming himself with good qualifications from American universities (a bachelor from Westpoint, a Masters from Georgetown University(?) and a Ph.D from UK’s University of Bristol), Hun Manet certainly has the potential to be Cambodia’s next generation of leaders, but people would argue that he has to achieve his political ambitions on his own merits, and not to depend on his father to prop him up.

Qualified or not, many of the CPP’s old guards, the likes of Chea Sim and Heng Samrin, who had worked hard and eyed the PM position for more than 50 years, will resent the fact that a young and inexperienced political novice could just appear from nowhere and get the job without having to work hard for it. And this, they would never allow it to happen.

Whether Mr. Hun Sen will succeed in grooming his son to be his successor remain to be seen. He is politically cunning and a very expedient politician. He is a master of tactician who are always three steps ahead of his political opponents. And with his tenacity, he might succeed one day. But, many seasoned political observers would like to argue that, one day, his expedience and political shenanigan will be his own undoing, because other CPP’s old guards will never allow him to always outsmart them and step on their heads all the time.