Op-Ed by Kok Sap
Originally posted at http://khamerlogue.wordpress.com
It has been 6 years since 2003, donors and observers keep hearing the same tune from Hun Sen when comes to asking for more aids. In 2007, he said – “A draft of the Anti-Corruption Law […] is in its final stages of consideration within the government before being sent to the National Assembly.”
Last year 2008, he sounded- “The Royal Government is committed without any hesitation to fighting corruption by undertaking many concrete actions to meet this objective including the drafting of the anti-corruption law itself.”– “Reform is not just a shallow word.”
Indeed that was not just a shallow but an empty word.
In all appearances Hun Sen seems to be in a driver seat but ,the insiders said otherwise, Hun Sen can’t sit unless that person said so. Nearly all key government executive offices are given to same person. To date that person is untouchable and very powerful even more than Hun Sen, himself.
The person is so cunning and manipulative to even eliminate his potential rivals and obstacles in power grab. Obviously Hok Lundi and General Ke Kim Yan seemed to be in his way. All witnessed General Hok Lundi was killed in a presumed weather hazard and no further investigation. Then not long after that incident, General Ke Kim Yan was disgracefully fired from armed forces high command. The excuse was Ke Kim Yan has owned too much lands.
Knowing the certainty of the worst, if Hun Sen wanted to reform Cambodia,it will be this guy whom he had to face first. Hun Sen has to return most of this guy roles and executive power to the national assembly to redistribute to others to keep balance in transparency and accountability.
People in Phnom Penh say it’s not what Hun Sen said but what this guy did to Cambodia. Hun Sen is the prime minister to the outside but inside government houses, he is seen so incapable to even giving marching orders to others without approval from this guy.
Who’s this guy?
His name is Sok An, a Viet descent, the current deputy prime minister for Cambodia and chairman of the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA). He has more authorities and unquestionable power than all ministries combined. To most Cambodian government senior officials he is the storm and thunder maker.
Like many of his peers in the in the Cambodian Peoples’ Party (CPP), under Hanoi given alias, Sok An, began his career as a bureaucrat during Vietnam’s occupation in the early 1980s and rose to prominence alongside Prime Minister Hun Sen. An astute political operator, he remained by Hun Sen’s side throughout the CPP’s ruthless consolidation of power and is now one of the prime minister’s closest allies. Their relationship was recently strengthened through the arranged marriage of Sok An’s son Sok Puthyvuth to Hun Sen’s daughter Hun Mali.
Global Witness has written about Sok An previously in his capacity as co-signatory on many of the original agreements for logging concessionaires in Cambodia.These concession agreements formed the basis of the disastrous destruction of forests which followed, at great cost to Cambodia’s environment and little benefit to Cambodia’s economy.
As the regime’s second-in-command, Sok An holds a number of other important governmental positions, so many in fact that he has been likened to a many-armed Hindu god, due to his
tendency to have a hand in everything. It came as little surprise that, when the CNPA was established in 1998, Sok An was elected as its chairman. Since then he has presided over all contracts awarded to oil companies, acting as the point person for potential investors.
One cartoonist’s view of the many-armed Sok An holding many key positions:
Last year 2008, he sounded- “The Royal Government is committed without any hesitation to fighting corruption by undertaking many concrete actions to meet this objective including the drafting of the anti-corruption law itself.”– “Reform is not just a shallow word.”
Indeed that was not just a shallow but an empty word.
In all appearances Hun Sen seems to be in a driver seat but ,the insiders said otherwise, Hun Sen can’t sit unless that person said so. Nearly all key government executive offices are given to same person. To date that person is untouchable and very powerful even more than Hun Sen, himself.
The person is so cunning and manipulative to even eliminate his potential rivals and obstacles in power grab. Obviously Hok Lundi and General Ke Kim Yan seemed to be in his way. All witnessed General Hok Lundi was killed in a presumed weather hazard and no further investigation. Then not long after that incident, General Ke Kim Yan was disgracefully fired from armed forces high command. The excuse was Ke Kim Yan has owned too much lands.
Knowing the certainty of the worst, if Hun Sen wanted to reform Cambodia,it will be this guy whom he had to face first. Hun Sen has to return most of this guy roles and executive power to the national assembly to redistribute to others to keep balance in transparency and accountability.
People in Phnom Penh say it’s not what Hun Sen said but what this guy did to Cambodia. Hun Sen is the prime minister to the outside but inside government houses, he is seen so incapable to even giving marching orders to others without approval from this guy.
Who’s this guy?
His name is Sok An, a Viet descent, the current deputy prime minister for Cambodia and chairman of the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA). He has more authorities and unquestionable power than all ministries combined. To most Cambodian government senior officials he is the storm and thunder maker.
Like many of his peers in the in the Cambodian Peoples’ Party (CPP), under Hanoi given alias, Sok An, began his career as a bureaucrat during Vietnam’s occupation in the early 1980s and rose to prominence alongside Prime Minister Hun Sen. An astute political operator, he remained by Hun Sen’s side throughout the CPP’s ruthless consolidation of power and is now one of the prime minister’s closest allies. Their relationship was recently strengthened through the arranged marriage of Sok An’s son Sok Puthyvuth to Hun Sen’s daughter Hun Mali.
Global Witness has written about Sok An previously in his capacity as co-signatory on many of the original agreements for logging concessionaires in Cambodia.These concession agreements formed the basis of the disastrous destruction of forests which followed, at great cost to Cambodia’s environment and little benefit to Cambodia’s economy.
As the regime’s second-in-command, Sok An holds a number of other important governmental positions, so many in fact that he has been likened to a many-armed Hindu god, due to his
tendency to have a hand in everything. It came as little surprise that, when the CNPA was established in 1998, Sok An was elected as its chairman. Since then he has presided over all contracts awarded to oil companies, acting as the point person for potential investors.
One cartoonist’s view of the many-armed Sok An holding many key positions:
- Permanent Vice Chairman of the Supreme Council for State Reform,
- Chairman of the Council for Administrative Reform,
- Chairman of the National Tourism Authority,
- Vice Chairman of the Centralist Democratic Institute (CDI),
- Vice Chairman the Asia Pacific Institute;
- Chief of the Apasara Authority,
- Chief of the National Land Dispute Authority,
- Chief of the Cambodia Training Board,
- Chief of the Royal Academy,
- Chief of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal,
- Member of the Council of Royal Administration and Chief of the State Investment Board on Rubber Enterprise.
30 comments:
Thanks for this revealing of Sok An. Three current hot issues relating Sok An are:
1. As a chief of Khmer Rouge tribunal court, Sok An imposed kickbacks from all Cambodian staffs. But when this secrecy is disclosed, Sean Visoth a subordinate of Sok An took a leave because of health issue.
2. As a chairman of Khmer judge legal training school, it is incredible to realize that each student has to pay 30000$ to have name for examination or pay 50000$ to go to this school directly without passing exam (listen to VOA today)
3. He is a superman who signed a letter to investigate Ke Kim Yan's land grabbing in many places, but this intent has latter been changed because there were excessive reaction from senior members of CPP.
Cambodia's current tune of politics is totally under the hand of Sok An. The important goal of Sok An is to accrue money as much as he can. Many posts and places that can accrue huge money are directly controlled by Sok An.
It is true that Hun Sen's power is provided by Sok An. One day, Sok An wants power back, Hun Sen will fail like Hok Lundi.
Puok Ah Jruok Jruok Cambodian-American'ts should know who is in charge of Cambodia. Of course, our Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Puok Ah Jruok Jruok Lop never get it.
PPU
The dogs bark never bite :D
Hanoi is BOSS!
ppu
you defend ah hun sen.
maybe ah hun sen pay you to suck his dick, right?
4:42 PM
All of you should know -- at least by now -- who is in charge of the country.
PPU
From the beginning I knew that this guy SOK AN is YOUN. Who can speak fluent Khmer, Chinese and YOUN.
HUN SEN needs to rid of this guy otherwise Cambodia will be screwed by YOUN countless.
KhmerPatriotic,
Thank you Kok Sap. It is indeed, Sok An is an "interested" person that Hun Sen has to watch out.
6:53pm are you thinking that ah Kwack would listen to you? And ah Kwack is a stupid and corrupted rat as a Viet slave can be!
If Hun SenVarman ain't submissively listening to Da Master, his PhDs' life would be exactly liked Hok Lundy!
Therefore, he will tirelessly kill all the good people, and unconscientiously keep all worst!
HUN SEN must kill SOK AN regardless.
He got to find way how to get rid SOK AN just HUN SEN did to HOK LUNDY.
Interesting revelation. We are living in a world of secrecy and I don’t want to speculate. However, there appears to be enough indications to suggest that too much powers are being concentrated in Sok An hand. This is quite dangerous for PM Hun Sen.
While PM Hun Sen makes all the noises, including a bad name for himself in the public place, Sok An quietly collects all the money and bribes for himself behind the scene. By some estimate, Sok An personal fortune is in the order of hundred million US dollars. With this amount of money, he can buy almost anything including PM Hun Sen’s job. Remember, every thing is on sale. The only question is how much you are willing to pay.
Sok An also calmly strengthen his power structure within CPP and uses Hun Sen name to eliminate his own potential rivals. On the international arena, Sok An often plays prominent roles of negotiator with UN on high profile issues.
To sum up, Sok An holds all they key ingredient to take over PM Hun Sen should the opportunity show up. Watch out PM Hun Sen. In this world, you can trust no one, but God.
Your invisible friend...
The KR's say, "worm is infested in its own skin". CPP will face a internal upheaval in near future.
SOK AN will take the chance to rise up there.
HUN SEN must watch out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Job Safety Rules:
Rule # 1 – No matter how loyal your deputy has been to you, never let him accumulate too much power. Spread the power among several deputies.
Rule # 2 – If a deputy thinks that your job is within his reach, he will sooner or later betray you. It is a human nature, as simple as that.
Agent 32
And I thought itwas Shihanouk! How stupid am I?????????
in cambodia, the rule of law should be the boss. understand too that sometime we need a strong, law-abiding citizen to enforce the law. i mean, someone has gotten to do it, especially when there are too many law-breakers out there, a ramnent of the KR and old society. what else is new in cambodia? we demand reforms, totally!
I think Cambodians are the boss. Hun Sen just the reflection of the Khmer behavior.
Look at Cambodia, they are not that obedient, so are their leader-Hun Sen. They like smooking, does their leader. They like mistress, so does their leader. They are brown, so is their leader.
Hun Sen has not yet the complete power to influence his country. Without the support from the majority people, his tenure would not last such long.
It's good to teach Hun Sen your Job Safety Rules, Agent 32.
But I think it's just Karma. "What you sow you will reap". Hun Sen is the CPP's (Chea Sim's) deputy and has succeeded in snatching all powers in the party. Now, it's his Karma - his deputy Sok An has succeeded in gathering all powers in the government.
Then, in conclusion, Chea Sim is a ceremonial president of the party while Hun Sen is also merely a ceremonial prime minister of the government.
To PPU, you should acknowledge the truth. Your prime minister is so silly to allow people to blame and curse him while the real benefits actually go to Sok An. Or are you as stupid/silly/idiot as your prime minister? Very likely I think.
ppu
i know khmer rouge [ah hun sen] is in charge of the country.
10:54 AM
I must not give you kudos. Or perhaps you've tried too hard.
Should I laugh with your or at you? I'll the audience of this forum make his/her own decision.
PPU
Hun Sen must get rid of Sok An.
When time come, HUN SEN will take out SOK AN.
11:42 AM
The PM does not need to get it of anybody.
What about you, 11:42? Are you willing to get rid of your failed leader Scum Rainsy?
I think YOU PEOPLE have to be extra careful prior to contemplating of getting anyone, particularly the elected official (s).
PPU
No, Sok An will get rid of Hun Sen first.
No. You got it backward. Hun Sen will get rid of Sok An first.
PPU (Pimping Pussy University)
2:23 PM
Sound likes the Western educational institution.
PPU
3:56 PM
Speaking of mannerism; you have no manners whatsoever. Here, everyone tries to have an intellectual discussion -- but you -- yes, you came in here behaving like a wild animal talking about swine flue information, sex messages, breast augmentation, and travel information. Who the fuck you think you are, fucker. Undoubtedly, there's no shortage of asshole like you on this earth. Now, go and fuck yourself, asshole.
PPU
in cambodia, yuons are boss, not hun sen nor kmaoch polpot
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