Hun Sen

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Hun Sen
Hun Sen
Incumbent
Assumed office 
30 November 1998
Monarch Norodom Sihanouk
Norodom Sihamoni
Preceded by Ung Huot
Born 5 August 1952 (1952-08-05) (age 55)
Peam Koh Sna
Political party CPP
Spouse Bun Rany

Hun Sen (born April 4, 1951 or August 5, 1952) is the Prime Minister of Cambodia. His current full honorable title is: Samdech Akeakmohasenapadey Decho Hun Sen. He is one of the key leaders of the Cambodian People's Party, which, has governed Cambodia since the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1993, most of the time in coalition with the royalist Funcinpec party. The title "Samdech" was attached to his name in 1993 by King Norodom Sihanouk. It is only an honorary title and does not give him further powers. He has a glass eye, the result of a wound sustained during the Khmer Rouge offensive against Phnom Penh in April 1975.

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[edit] Political career

Hun Sen was selected by the Vietnamese for a leadership role in the rebel army and government they were creating for Cambodia. When the Khmer Rouge regime was overthrown, Hun Sen was appointed foreign minister of the Vietnamese-installed People's Republic of Kampuchea in 1979 and served until 1990, with a brief interruption from 1986 until 1987. As foreign minister Hun Sen was a key figure in the Paris Peace Talks which brokered peace in Indochina. He became Prime Minister in 1985, shortly after the death of Chan Sy. From 1993 until 1998 he was co-prime-minister with Prince Norodom Ranariddh.

In 1997, the coalition was shaken by tensions between Funcinpec leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen. Funcinpec began to collaborate with the remaining Khmer Rouge rebels (with whom it had been allied against Hun Sen's Vietnamese-backed government during the 1980s), aiming to absorb them into its ranks.[1] In response, Hun Sen launched a bloody military coup, removing Ranariddh and becoming the country's sole prime minister in 1998. Several royalist supporters were killed or tortured by CPP members, though Hun Sen denied any involvement. [1] He also denied that his action was a coup, arguing that if he had wanted to make a coup, he would have abolished the monarchy. [2]

The elections of July 2003 resulted in a larger majority in the National Assembly for the CPP, with FUNCINPEC losing seats to CPP and the Sam Rainsy Party. However, CPP's majority was short of the constitutionally-required 2/3 for the CPP to form a government alone. This deadlock was overcome through some creative interpretation of the constitution and a new CPP-FUNCINPEC coalition was formed in mid 2004.

[edit] Criticism

Some political opponents of Hun Sen accuse him of being a puppet of Hanoi due to his position in the government created by Vietnam while Cambodia was under Vietnamese military occupation. The accusation is also based on the fact that he was a prominent figure in the People's Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea (now known as the Cambodian People's Party) which governed Cambodia as a one-party state under Vietnamese military occupation from 1979 until the introduction of democracy in 1993. Hun Sen tends to denounce such charges, claiming that he represents only the Cambodian people. More recent political opponents outside the country accuse him of being a corrupt dictator who controls the country by force.

Hun Sen was accused of ordering his personal body guards to throw hand grenades into the crowd of protestors led by Sam Rainsy in 1997, which lead dozens of innocent people died and hundreds of others injured. Hun Sen was also badly criticized for allegedly ordering his men called Pagoda Boys (Khmeng Wat) to stop or fight against any demonstrators against him.

[edit] Family

Hun Sen is married to Bun Rany. In October, 2007, Hun Sen made a surprise announcement at a graduation ceremony in front of an audience of around 3,000 that his adopted daughter is lesbian. He explained that this was a personal struggle for him and while he had learned that homosexuality was acceptable, he could not accept this in his own family. As a result, he took legal steps to disown his adopted lesbian daughter and to prevent her from any entitlement to inheritance. Nonetheless, he asked the audience to accept homosexuals.[3][4]

Although Hun Sen's birthday is officially celebrated on April 4, he revealed that his actual date of birth was August 5, 1952 (The Cambodia Daily, April 5, 2007). He apparently altered his date of birth to appear older when joining the Khmer Rouge as a youth. He joined the International Parliament for Safety and Peace, as Senator for Life in October 2007.[5]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b [1]
  2. ^ Hun Sen claims no coup in Cambodia. CNN. July 10, 1997
  3. ^ PM disowns daughter for being gay - CNN, 2007-10-30
  4. ^ Hun Sen disowns his lesbian daughter - Bangkok Post, 2007-10-31
  5. ^ See http://www.international-parliament.net/seite27.htm.

[edit] Further reading

Preceded by
Ung Huot		 Prime Minister of Cambodia
1998–present		 Succeeded by
—
Preceded by
Chan Sy		 Prime Minister of Cambodia
1985–1993		 Succeeded by
Sen-Ranariddh Coalition
v • d • e
Prime Ministers of Cambodia since 1970
v • d • e
Prominent Members of the Khmer Rouge
Democratic Kampuchea Flag