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| Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, right, and his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, left, review an honor guard, Hanoi, Vietnam, Dec. 20, 2016 (AP photo by Tran Van Minh). |
The Price of Hun Sen’s Opposition Crackdown in Cambodia
| 13 February 2017
For over three decades, Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Sen, has ruled
his country without any sign of ever wanting to give up power, despite
growing indications that Cambodians want him to. As the country prepares
for elections, he has begun his most ruthless campaign yet to
consolidate his position as a strongman and undermine his opponents to
ensure his own political survival. The resignation of the country’s
longtime opposition leader is just the latest indication of the heavy
price that Hun Sen is exacting on Cambodia’s domestic politics and
foreign policy.
Since coming to power in 1985 with Vietnamese support [to put in mildly!] following the brief but brutal reign of the genocidal Khmer Rouge, Cambodia’s cunning one-eyed premier has skillfully played his domestic opponents against one another and extracted support and resources from his neighbors to preserve his power. Though Hun Sen initially restored political stability to Cambodia and rebuilt it following the carnage of the 1970s, it has become increasingly evident that his continued rule is coming at great costs that Cambodians are less willing to bear. ...
Since coming to power in 1985 with Vietnamese support [to put in mildly!] following the brief but brutal reign of the genocidal Khmer Rouge, Cambodia’s cunning one-eyed premier has skillfully played his domestic opponents against one another and extracted support and resources from his neighbors to preserve his power. Though Hun Sen initially restored political stability to Cambodia and rebuilt it following the carnage of the 1970s, it has become increasingly evident that his continued rule is coming at great costs that Cambodians are less willing to bear. ...
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