At 62, Hun Sen, prime minister of Cambodia, is one of the longest-serving heads of government in the world. He rose to power following the devastating rule of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s and after he had left that group to join forces with Vietnam. Accused by human rights groups around the world of torturing and murdering his opponents, he is widely regarded as a ruthless politician and master manipulator who has spread a web of economic and social controls over his country.
Timeline: A damning Human Rights Watch report
On Jan. 14, 2015, Hun Sen marked 30 years as prime minister of Cambodia. He joins an exclusive club of men now in power who, through politically motivated violence, control of the security forces, manipulated elections, massive corruption, and the tacit support of foreign powers, have been able to remain in power well beyond the time any leader in a democratic political system has ever served.
Source: Human Rights Watch.
Photo: AFP
Hun Sen (R) greets people during a cement casting ceremony for the Neak Loeung bridge in Kandal province, Jan. 14, 2014.
August 5, 1952
Hun Sen’s early life in Kampong Cham province
Hun Sen is born on Aug. 5, 1952, in Peam Koh Sna village in Kampong Cham province, along the north bank of the Mekong River in central Cambodia. His official birth name is Hun Bunnal, or Nal for short, the third of seven children. Two older brothers and three younger sisters remain alive (Hun San and Hun Neng, and Hun Sengny, Hun Sinat, and Hun Thoeun, respectively).
Graphic: RFA
January 1, 1964
Studies in Phnom Penh (1964/1965 - 1969)
Hun Sen goes to primary school locally. However, as there is no middle school in his village, in 1964 or 1965 his parents send the then 12 or 13-year-old Hun Sen to study in Phnom Penh, where he lives at Wat Neakavoan pagoda through 1969. During this period, he changes his name to Hun Ritthi Sen. In Phnom Penh, he has relatives in the elite, including in the armed forces and in senior positions in the government security services. However, Hun Sen is also influenced by the writings of the secretly communist teacher Tiv Ol.
April 4, 1970
Joins the Khmer Rouge
Hun Sen, under a new name, Hun Samrech, joins the armed insurgency on April 19, 1970, in response to Sihanouk’s March 23, 1970 radio broadcast from exile urging people to rebel against his overthrow. Hun Sen claims later that he was unaware of Pol Pot’s leadership of the insurgency. Remnants of Pol Pot's and Nuon Chea’s communist movement, known as the Khmer Rouge (officially led from 1971 by what it calls the Communist Party of Kampuchea, or CPK), emerges to launch a renewed insurgency, backed by Vietnamese communists.
Photo: AFP
A picture released 16 June 1972 shows a Khmer Rouge unit during the Cambodia war.
January 1, 1972
The Mekong River Front, 1972-1975
About 1972, Hun Sen is appointed company commander. In late 1972, Hun Sen undergoes further military training and changes his name from Hun Samrech back to Hun Sen. By 1973, he is a member of the battalion command committee leadership group. His area of operations is the east bank of the Mekong. This battlefield increasingly
April 16, 1975
Loses his left eye
On April 1, 1975, Hun Sen commands an offensive with the objective of taking Tonle Bet. On April 16, he is wounded by shrapnel, as a result of which he lose his left eye and is left unconscious for about a week. While still in hospital, Hun Sen is appointed chief of staff of an autonomous special regiment in the East Zone.
June 20, 1977
Leaves Cambodia for Vietnam
Hun Sen asserts that he has had increasing disagreements with certain CPK policies
and practices in 1976 and especially in the first half of 1977, as a result of which he
decides to leave Cambodia for Vietnam. He crosses the border on June 20, 1977,
although the exact circumstances are disputed.
January 14, 1985
Becomes Prime Minister of People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK)
In response to Khmer Rouge attacks, the Vietnamese army invades Cambodia on Dec. 25, 1978. It reaches Phnom Penh on Jan. 7, 1979, then chases the Khmer Rouge to the Thai border. Vietnam installs a new government, mixing Hanoi-trained communists with former Khmer Rouge officers to run the People’s Republic of Kampuchea (PRK). The former group includes Pen Sovann, who is named prime minister. Among the latter group is the 26- year-old Hun Sen, who becomes the world’s youngest foreign minister. Pen Sovann soon falls out with Hanoi and is arrested. He is replaced by Chan Si, who dies in office in December 1984. Hanoi, impressed with the ability and loyalty of the young foreign minister, promotes Hun Sen to the post of PRK prime minister on Jan. 14, 1985.
January 15, 1985
Hun Sen and PRK repression in the 1980s
Upon becoming Prime Minister, Hun Sen assumes, in accordance with the
PRK constitution, authority over the armed forces, police, and other security
units. This places him in charge of both national defense and domestic security.
Photo: AFP
Cambodian resistance leader Prince Norodom Sihanouk (r) and prime minister
of the pro-Vietnamese Phnom Penh government Hun Sen meet Dec. 4, 1987
in Fere-en Tardenois, in the north of France, to sign a joint communique
aimed at ending the nine-year conflict between the warring Cambodian factions.
This meeting between the warring parties is the first since the Vietnamese
intervention in Cambodia in 1978.
October 23, 1991
Signs the October 1991 Paris Agreements
Hun Sen and representatives of the Khmer Rouge, FUNCINPEC, the KPNLF,
and 18 foreign governments sign in Paris on Oct. 23, 1991, a peace treaty that
ends 21 years of civil war in Cambodia.
A general view of the Cambodian Peace Conference in Paris Oct. 23, 1991.
Photo: AFP
September 3, 1992
Death squads during the UN peacekeeping mission in 1992-1993
Hun Sen's Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) prepares for the arrival of the U.N.Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), by setting up teams to attack, threaten, and intimidate supporters of FUNCINPEC, the Buddhist Liberal Democratic Party (BLDP), the Khmer Rouge, and others in the run-up to UNTAC-administered elections scheduled for 1993. Hun Sen remains prime minister during this period and exercises control over military and security force policy and practices.
March 30, 1997
Grenade attack on an opposition party rally, March 30, 1997
On Sunday, March 30, 1997, approximately 200 anti-government
demonstrators arrive at a park across the street from the
Royal Palace and the National Assembly. This is the first
post-UNTAC demonstration formally approved by the Ministry of Interior,
but it ends in carnage. When the grenade-throwing ends,
at least 16 people lie dead or dying. More than 150 are injured.
The main target, Sam Rainsy, survives the attack. Members of
Hun Sen's personal bodyguard unit, Brigade 70, are deployed in
full riot gear at the rally.
Photo: AFP
Military policemen sit in the back of a truck on June 19, 1997 while
patrolling the Cambodian capital amid an upsurge of violence
between supporters of Second Prime Minister Hun Sen's
Cambodian People's Party, and those supporting the royalist
FUNCINPEC party of First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh.
July 5, 1997
Hun Sen’s July 1997 coup and extrajudicial executions
On July 5, 1997, Second Prime Minister Hun Sen launches what
the U.N. describes as a coup d’état against First Prime Minister
Norodom Ranariddh and his FUNCINPEC party. The coup is the
culmination of months of tension between FUNCINPEC and
the CPP. On July 4, Ranariddh flees to Paris on the advice of
his security team, which says they can no longer protect him.
After fierce fighting in Phnom Penh, the coup succeeds on July 6.
The coup is followed by a wave of extrajudicial killings, torture,
and arbitrary detentions by Hun Sen’s forces.
Heavily armed soldiers loyal to Second Prime Minister Hun Sen's
Cambodian People's Party sit atop a Russian-made T-55 tank awaiting
their orders at Wat Phnead, some 15 kilometers southwest of the capital
Phnom Penh on July 5.
Photo: AFP
July 26, 1998
Becomes Sole Prime Minister
The killings send opposition politicians and activists into exile in fear
for their lives. Most politicians return under a deal brokered by Japan,
the United States, and the U.N. to participate in elections in July 1998.
The elections are marked by violence and are fundamentally flawed.
Hun Sen and the CPP gain a majority in the National Assembly, and
Hun Sen is named sole prime minister. The coup and the elections allow
Hun Sen to consolidate his power. He has ruled virtually unchallenged
within his party or by the opposition ever since.
Photo: AFP (Cambodian strongman Hun Sen smiles while casting his vote in the
July 26, 1998, election for the National Assembly.)
January 1, 2001
Attacks on the opposition, and the land crisis
During 2001, 15 Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) and other opposition
candidates or activists are killed. Human rights monitors records
more than 80 incidents of political threats and violence, mostly
directed at the SRP. Hun Sen reacts by criticizing the monitors,
suggesting they are biased against the CPP. He also fails to stem
a growing tide of illegal land-grabbing by government officials and
security force officers affecting tens of thousands of Cambodians.
Photo: AFP (Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks to the press
at a local registry office in Phnom Penh on July 21, 2001, daring critics
to produce evidence proving claims that a spate of killings was politically
motivated.)
July 30, 2003
Wins 2003 election
The 2003 CPP election campaign is again led by Hun Sen.
It is accompanied by a flurry of prosecutions or threatened
prosecutions of opposition media figures and human rights
activists for “defamation” in connection with their reporting
on alleged official corruption and human rights abuses.
Photo: AFP (Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen addresses a meeting during a
visit to Phum Porolum, south of Phnom Penh, on July 30, 2003, after winning the
general elections.)
November 4, 2006
Pardons Sam Rainsy and other SRP figures
In 2006, Hun Sen asks the king to pardon Sam Rainsy and other SRP
figures, who resume a more subdued political life in Cambodia.
At the same time, some detained civil society activists are granted bail,
but remain under threat of prosecution. The authorities continue to
disperse, or reject most requests for, peaceful public demonstrations,
rallies, and marches, while also threatening, attacking, and arresting
villagers opposed to land confiscation, logging, and concessions.
Many protests go ahead without permission, and protestors are often
confronted by large numbers of police.
Photo: AFP (Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni (r) greets Prime Minister Hun Sen (l)
as President of the National Assembly Heng Samrin (c) smiles during the Water
Festival in Phnom Penh, Nov. 4, 2006.)
July 24, 2009
Launches new offensive against the SRP
In 2009, Hun Sen launches a new offensive against the SRP. Criminal defamation, disinformation, and incitement lawsuits are filed against party leader Sam Rainsy, SRP parliamentarians Mu Sochua and Ho Vann, and SRP youth activist Soung Sophorn. Sam Rainsy goes into exile rather than face imprisonment. He is sentenced in absentia to 11 years. Hun Sen also presses defamation charges against the lawyer defending SRP cases, spurring the lawyer's withdrawal from the cases in July. As a result, Mu Sochua lacks legal counsel during her July 2009 trial, in which she is found guilty of defaming the prime minister and is ordered to pay U.S. $4,100 in fines and compensation.
Photo: AFP (Mu Sochua (r) and Sam Rainsy (l) walk toward a courtroom in Phnom Penh on July 24, 2009.)
July 28, 2013
Wins 2013 election
The CPP-controlled National Election Committee announces a narrow win for the CPP in the 2013 election. The process is again widely condemned as neither free nor fair by domestic and international monitoring groups. The outcome is affected by CPP control of state media, security forces, and all election management bodies, which had produced a voter list marred by CPP-orchestrated fraud and other irregularities.
Photo: RFA (Sam Rainsy (center with glasses) joins a demonstration in Freedom Park, Phnom Penh, Dec. 15, 2013.)
January 1, 2014
Bans all protests
At the beginning of January 2014, Hun Sen bans all protests, including those at the government-designated Democracy Plaza in Phnom Penh, where demonstrations are supposed to be allowed. Enforcing this prohibition, police kill at least seven people and injure dozens of others, including at a January protest by garment workers in Phnom Penh.
Photo: RFA (Police surround Freedom Park with barbed wire to prevent union workers from using the site to mark May 1, Labor Day.)
Quotes
"I not only weaken the opposition, I’m going to make them dead ... and if anyone is strong enough to try to hold a demonstration, I will beat all those dogs and put them in a cage."
— Hun Sen, January 20, 2011, responding to the suggestion that he should be worried about the overthrow of a dictator in Tunisia at the time of the “Arab Spring.”
"After 30 years of experience, there is no reason to believe that Hun Sen will wake up one day and decide to govern Cambodia in a more open, inclusive, tolerant, and rights-respecting manner. The international community should begin listening to those Cambodians who have increasingly demanded the protection and promotion of their basic human rights." — Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, January 13, 2015.
5 comments:
Ah kwaq Sen should learns something from his comrades; Sadam Husien & Moa Kadafee's death because these 2 were the longest served in their country too,they both died in the hands of their people,the point is; all their families were killed or live in exile in disgrace changes their last name to some one else,ah kwaq will follow these two leaders of Muslim's nations one day....! Think about your sons & daughters ah kwaq Sen,don't be so selfish about yourself.Do you want your whole families wipe out like Sadam & Kadafee!? You decide DU MA...!
Ah Hun Sen is a strong man because he has special talents that others Khmer people don't have:
1- Ah Hun Sen is willing to destroy Khmer people who protected Cambodia's interest.
For example, Ah Roleuy Hun Sen had shown to the evil Vietnam that he will be a faithful dog to Vietnam by apprehending Pen Sovann and putting him in jail.
2- Ah Runteas Banh Hun Sen will kill Khmer people who questioned his traitorous acts.
3- And many countless criminal acts that Ah Hun Sen had done to destroy Cambodia.
For example, he defied the 1991 Paris Peace Accord, and he signed the supplemental treaty in 2005, etc...
In brief, Ah Hun Sen is a strong Khmer traitor.
If we look at Ah Hun Sen's face carefully, we can see that Ah Hun Sen looks like a dead man now - there is no life in his face.
This may be a precursor sign that Ah Hun Sen will go to hell soon.
Chhary
Dear All,
By far, Hun Sen is NOT a strong man.
Au contraire, Hun Sen is the weakest man and the weakest link in the chain
whereby Hanoi had identified and picked to serve its sole interests at the expense of Kampuchea and the Khmer people.
Hence Hun Sen is nothing but a traitor
Then all your idiotic are strong right ,
? I want to hear what your wife said about your guy. ....madness idiots followers right. Isn't it right. .amazing cnrp crap. .
3:02 pm
Your head wasn't screwed on right.
Hun Sen is a strong man against his own people, but extremely weak and
obedient toward his master Yuon.
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