The prime minister says his party and ordinary Cambodians are uncertain about what will happen once his decades-long rule ends.

By Kimseng Men | VOA Khmer | July 26, 2018
អានអត្ថបទ​នេះជាភាសាខ្មែរ

Washington Like many Cambodians, Prime Minister Hun Sen is uncertain about what will happen to the country once his rule ends.

After more than three decades in power, the 66 year old faces no challenge at the July 29 national elections. His government jailed the main opposition party leader in September, then dissolved the party in November.

However, in an unreleased segment of a 2015 interview with American filmmaker Robert Lieberman, the prime minister said the question of what post-Hun Sen Cambodia will look like is uncertain.

“The thing that we have to think of is… what is the stage after Hun Sen?” he said. “That is the question among the Cambodian people, and the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). I am wondering myself, too: Who will come after Hun Sen? What is the post-Hun Sen era like?”

The prime minister then appeared to suggest that younger leaders should take charge after he leaves power.

“Now, I’ve been thinking about the younger generation. It’s them who will push the reform and they have a higher ability to do that because they have the opportunity, more opportunity, to learn during the age of technology, including IT,” he said.

Hun Sen rarely gives media interviews but granted one to Lieberman for his documentary “Angkor Awakens.” VOA recently obtained the interview from the filmmaker. It was shot in a New York hotel.

The issue of Hun Sen’s political succession is sensitive among CPP members and those contacted by VOA have, in the past, tiptoed around the question.

Hun Sen is one of the longest-ruling leaders in the world. Last September, he reportedly vowed to rule for another decade to “maintain stability,” just days after the arrest of Cambodia National Rescue Party (CRNP) leader Kem Sokha on trumped-up charges of treason.

Hun Sen became prime minister in 1985 as part of a Vietnam-backed, communist government. He and the CPP have held onto power since with shrewd political maneuvering and the use force against the opposition.

In some countries, such as those that experienced the “Arab Spring”, decades of strongman rule ended with massive street protests, followed by political crises and oftentimes, chaos.

In the interview, Hun Sen waved away such concerns, playing down the large street protests that followed the CPP’s narrow victory over the CRNP in the 2013 elections, the results of which were disputed.

“It’s normal for democracy,” Hun Sen said when asked about the protests that his security forces crushed. “They would like us to step down. But … I just told them that I come to this position by the constitution, I have to go down through the constitution. That is the situation.”

Sebastian Strangio, a journalist and author of Hun Sen’s Cambodia, has previously told VOA that, barring any health problems, Hun Sen is likely to rule for many years to come, though it seems he is grooming his sons for his succession.

Strangio told VOA last year, “The question is: Are any of his sons in a position to take over? Are they prepared enough? Are they skilled enough at politics? And the second question is: Would the rest of the party accept that decision?”

When Hun Sen does leave power, through natural causes or political pressure, senior CPP members could be waiting in the wings to challenge his sons.

Hun Sen’s oldest son, Hun Manet, is seen as a likely successor. He was recently promoted to deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces. He also heads the Defense Ministry’s counterterrorism department and is the commander of his father’s several thousand-strong Bodyguard Unit. His political profile is rising in Cambodia and abroad.

Another son, Hun Many, is a CPP member of parliament, while a third son, Hun Manith, is an army brigadier-general. Hun Sen’s daughter, Hun Mana, controls a major media company.

Key party members who could challenge a Hun family dynasty include Defense Minister Tea Bahn, and two CPP deputy presidents, Say Chhum and Sar Kheng, who are senate president and interior minister respectively.