Hun Sen: A dictator or a compromising leader?

Comrade Hun Xen

28 August 2011
By Khmerization
Source: RFA

Prime Minister Hun Sen's increasing iron-fisted rule has caught the ire of many donor countries and Cambodia-watchers, especially diplomats and political observers.

Many Khmer and foreign political analysts are unanimous in labelling him a dictator, citing his erratic behaviours and short tempered temperament who had bullied his way into a coalition in 1993 after losing the election and has since used police and military powers, as well as the judiciary, to consolidate his powers, while cutting down his enemies, internal and external, at the same time.

Dr. A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, professor emeritus of the University of Guam, a Cambodian-born political scientist and a long time observer of the Cambodian political affairs, said by an email to RFA that Mr. Hun Sen is a dictator because all powers, both the judicial and administrative as well as the legislative powers, rest in his hands alone.

Mr. Chett Cholasa, another Cambodian political scientist, said Mr. Hun sen is a short-tempered and hot-tempered person who likes to be lauded and praised, who used his own words as the laws and regulations. "Mr. Hun Sen is a gentlemanly dictator who used his own words as the laws. It did not indicate as dictatorial through his words, but the meanings of his words become laws. Normally, speech is just an art, but speeches of the world's leaders have different characteristics. The most important thing is whether their words as an order are more important than the powers of the judicial system. So, he has used all his words immorally as laws on specific cases", he said.

He also said that Mr. Hun Sen is an autocratic leader who has the final say on every petty case. "He controls all very little things to very big things. Even the crab catchers to who fought over crabs have used Mr. Hun Sen to protect them. So, we see a weakness in the laws and the judicial system in Cambodia because all the powers concentrated on only one person, who is Prime Minister Hun Sen. This point is referred to a case when he made a speech about the fishing lots (cancelling fishing licences). If we look at his speech, it sounds like he is a gentleman, like he is a virtuous person. But in fact, it is a solution that is bypassing the judicial system. If we talk about a state of law, they resolve everything through the hierarchy, not through the prime minister's intervention on everything. Even about the illegal road checkpoints, about the 5 metres of damages on a bridge, needs the intervention (of the prime minister) also", he added.

On 12th August 2009, Mr. Hun Sen angrily denied accusations from the oppositions and the international community that he is a dictator when he sued opposition MP Mu Sochua for defamation. "I am a prime minister, I am a prime minister, if I don't use court, do you want me to use guns (to settle to the dispute)? Please be clear: If I order, in 2 hours, Phnom Penh will all be taken over. Please try, this hour it only takes two hours. If I use dictatorial powers, even if you run, you can't escape, all of you will be detained. And they said that I am a dictator. This is nonsense. The one who said that I am a dictator, even if they are foreigners or Khmers, they are all stupid, you are all ignorant, you don't know the laws. You only recognise the rights of the opposition groups, but you never recognised the legal rights of the rulers", he said.

International observers have in the past said that Cambodia is ruled by fears, suppression, calling Cambodia's laws existed on papers, but there is no respect for the rule of those laws.

A global organisation which monitors freedom of expression around the world called Freedom House, in early 2011 made an assessment that Cambodia lacks freedom of expression, while 90% of the judicial system is controlled by the ruling (Cambodian People's) party.

Mr. Brad Adams, executive director for Asia Chapter of Human Rights Watch, said Mr. Hun Sen has controlled all the powers in Cambodia. "Mr. Hun Sen's characteristics is of a person who wants to fully control everything. When Mr. Hun Sen wants something, he must have it whenever he wanted it. Through his orders to the military, the police, the court and the parliament. I just give one example, when he want to lift the parliamentary immunity of a particular member of parliament to arrest them or prosecute them, Mr. Hun Sen always forced other members of parliament to vote for him, and sometimes he had used the armed forces to surround the parliament to force the parliament to lift the parliamentary immunity (of other MPs)", he said.

In 2010, the American International Republican Institute did a survey of 2,000 people and found that 76% of the people surveyed supported Mr. Hun Sen. Some government officials boasted that Mr. Hun Sen is more popular than President Barack Obama.

Mr. Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said Mr. Hun Sen's critics are those who are evil people who wanted to topple him from powers. "Those who said that Samdech Hun Sen is a dictator or not a dictator, it is not up to them to decide. Those groups of people are evil people who wanted the Cambodian people to suffer through turmoil, through uprising because the Cambodian people have received benefits from Samdech Hun Sen, which is peace. The people who said that are those who are not responsible, they only attack. The dictatorship that those people has talked about are only for the benefits of those people, not for the benefits of the people", he said.

Mr. Ear Channa, Secretary General of the Norway-based Cambodian Watchdog Council, gives the definition of a dictator as someone who is autocratic and who thinks that he is right in everything, a person who is afraid of criticism, a person who likes to use threatening behaviours, intimidation and those who like to be praised and lauded. "A dictator is someone who applies absolute powers, especially those who want to monitor and absolutely control the government without giving privilege to other people to get involved in the decision-making process or providing any advice, and this is the characteristics of a dictator", he said.

Mr. Pang Sokhoeun, a Sweden-based freelance political analyst of the Cambodian affairs, said Mr. Hun Sen thinks that only him alone can lead Cambodia. "In his political view, both Mr. Hun Sen and his families as well as his cronies often said that only Mr. Hun Sen alone can lead Cambodia. Without Hun Sen, no one else can lead Cambodia. So, in this group, he had created a theory of selfism", he said.

Dr. Sok Touch, a professor of political science, sees Mr. Hun Sen as a leader of compromise, but acknowledged that Mr. Hun Sen is an autocratic leader. "He is not a dictator. If he is a dictator, our society won't be rich like now. It only means that he used his words more than (the laws). He is not a dictator, when he forbids logging, logging still continues, when he bans illegal checkpoints, illegal checkpoints still exist. So, how can he be a dictator?', he said.

Mr. Hun Sen was born in 1952. He joined the Khmer Rouge movement in 1970 and then defected to Vietnam in 1977. When the Vietnamese army toppled the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979, he came foreign minister at the age of 26 and in 1985, with the support of Vietnam, became prime minister of Cambodia.