When Cambodia’s new prime minister Hun Manet visits Melbourne next week for the ASEAN Australia Summit, he may seem a welcome change from his long-serving authoritarian father Hun Sen. But hopes for a democratic and human rights renaissance in this genocide-ravaged and long sadly misgoverned country remain unhappily misplaced.
While Hun Manet – softly spoken, Western-educated and technocratically savvy – will present himself as the face to the world of a modern, developing Cambodia, talking the talk of economic reform and more effective governance, the talk of his father back home is jail for his critics. And it is his father who continues to call all the shots that matter.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet inspects an honour guard during a visit to Malaysia on Tuesday. The prime minister’s family retain control of many senior roles in the Cambodian government. Credit: AP
Hun Sen, still only 71, remains president of the Cambodian People’s Party, and in practical control of what effectively remains a one-party state. And he is, for good measure, de facto constitutional head of state as well: as president of the Senate, he acts for King Sihamoni whenever he is out of the state – as the King often has been, not least when controversial legislation has been signed into force.
The governing CPP has successfully used broad defamation laws to prosecute critics in the courts. Last year the opposition leader, Son Chhay, a dual Cambodian-Australian citizen, was ordered to pay $US1 million in damages for saying the CPP bought and stole votes, and jail awaits if he cannot pay. Commenting on this case, Soeng Sengkaruna, deputy head of one of the country’s leading NGOs, said the CPP should stop using courts to silence opposition, which has led this month to the CPP now suing him too, seeking $500,000 in damages. Knowing the negligible prospect of the courts defying the CPP’s wishes, Sengkaruna and his family have now fled the country.
With Hun Sen doing the heavy lifting in controlling the political environment, Hun Manet has been able to concentrate on managing government departments and delivering public services, and to keep one step away from allegations of human rights abuses. This has encouraged some Western diplomats to dream he will grant liberal freedoms when given the opportunity to do so.
But there is no reason to believe that a few years studying in America and Britain will lead Hun Manet to discard the authoritarian and paternalistic culture in which he has been immersed for most of his life. This is one, much influenced by Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore, where family trumps the individual, economic rights trump political rights, liberal freedoms need to be constrained lest they brew discord and disorder, and wise rulers should not be held back by the separation of powers.
A great many Cambodians, including some in the CPP itself, remain to be persuaded that family values justify so many powerful roles being occupied by Hun Sen and his progeny, with not only Hun Manet as prime minister but Lt General Hun Manith (middle son) as chief of the Defence Ministry’s Intelligence Department; Hun Many MP (youngest son) as minister for Civil Service and president of the CPP’s youth wing; daughters Hun Mana and Hun Maly owning a swathe of companies, including Cambodia Electricity Private that sells electricity to the government, and TV, radio and newspaper outlets; and Mana’s husband being Deputy National Police Chief.
Cambodia is growing economically, with the cityscape now gleaming with skyscrapers. But we need to look beyond that which glitters. Cambodia already ranks 158th out of 180 countries for corruption, and a country where one family dominates government and commerce, and leaders are appointed because of their family connections, is at profound risk of kleptocracy.
We’re welcoming a ‘reformer’ PM, but it’s his despot dad who calls the shots
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01.03.2024
When Cambodia’s new prime minister Hun Manet visits Melbourne next week for the ASEAN Australia Summit, he may seem a welcome change from his long-serving authoritarian father Hun Sen. But hopes for a democratic and human rights renaissance in this genocide-ravaged and long sadly misgoverned country remain unhappily misplaced.
While Hun Manet – softly spoken, Western-educated and technocratically savvy – will present himself as the face to the world of a modern, developing Cambodia, talking the talk of economic reform and more effective governance, the talk of his father back home is jail for his critics. And it is his father who continues to call all the shots that matter.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet inspects an honour guard during a visit to Malaysia on Tuesday. The prime minister’s family retain control of many senior roles in the Cambodian government. Credit: AP
Hun Sen, still only 71, remains president of the Cambodian........
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