Hun Manet
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, one of the world's longest-serving leaders, said 26 July 2023 he will resign and hand power to his eldest son after almost four decades of hardline rule.The former Khmer Rouge cadre has run the kingdom since 1985, eliminating all opposition to his power, with opposition parties banned, challengers forced to flee and freedom of expression stifled. His Cambodian People's Party (CPP) won a landslide victory in an election with no meaningful opposition, taking 82 percent of the vote, paving the way for a dynastic succession to his eldest son that some critics have compared to North Korea.
Prime Minister Hun Sen told a Chinese television station that his eldest son could become prime minister as soon as three weeks after the parliamentary elections 23 July 2023 “I am walking on the right path to secure country stability for younger generations,” he said in the interview with China’s Phoenix TV that aired on 20 July 2023. “I have sacrificed my power. Hun Sen has sacrificed power for peace for a long time.” Until recently, it was widely believed that the 70-year-old Hun Sen would continue as prime minister through 2028, when the next general election is scheduled to take place. He said publicly in 2021 that Hun Manet would one day follow him as prime minister. “This is the closest we’ve had yet to a definitive public confirmation about the timing of the handover of power,” author and journalist Sebastian Strangio wrote on Twitter.
Recent appointments and promotions in several government ministries indicated that the sons and daughters of longtime officials would be assuming new leadership roles after the election. CPP spokesman Sok Ey San confirmed to Radio Free Asia on Friday that a post-election government cabinet will be “90 percent new blood,” with only a few ministers staying on.
Finland-based political analyst Kim Sok told RFA that the new cabinet will continue to be controlled by Hun Sen. “Hun Sen knows that Hun Manet can’t work with the current ministers so he removes the existing ministers so his son can easily control them,” he said. Hun Sen has said in the past that he would retain influence behind the scenes as head of the CPP after stepping down as prime minister.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has groomed his eldest son as a potential successor ever since that son, Hun Manet, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point almost 20 years ago, and is confidently predicting his ruling Cambodian People’s Party will remain in power for another 100 years. Analysts say, though, that that rise is far from certain and Lieutenant General Hun Manet – who also heads the army – will have to negotiate the CPP politburo, factionalism, a fickle public and China to win enough support to govern this one-party state. Hun Sen has political ambitions for his son, but it remains to be seen if those are shared by others in the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). Hun Manet’s elevation through the military ranks was swift, and his appointment as chairman of the CPP’s youth wing, alongside a political mission to China, and his father’s authoritarian rule, had further fueled talk about his political ambitions.
Hun Manet graduated from West Point Military Academy in the United States in 1999 and received his Ph.D. Economics from the University of Bristol, UK in 2007. This is different from a father who has been in office for more than 30 years, but has received little education and has the support of Vietnam before he took office. Hun Sen had promised that he will not let his son replace him. In a 2008 statement, he called Cambodia a democracy that had no place for nepotism in politics.
Lieutenant General Hun Manet, eldest son of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, wrapped up his 10-day U.S. tour 20 April 2016 amid street protests by Cambodian Americans, leaving behind a community seemingly more divided than ever. Gen. Manet was forced to withdraw from the annual New Year's parade in Long Beach at the beginning of his visit when he was met with lively demonstrations.
“I’m protesting because I’m not satisfied with Hun Sen and Hun Manet for abusing and killing Cambodian people, selling land to the Vietnamese, and selling their consciences,” said Khim Any Yorn, a protester at the parade April 10. “We are not happy to let him join the parade in the U.S. because it's the land of democracy and his hands are stained with Cambodian blood, so we don’t welcome him.”
Gen. Manet, a senior military commander who headed the country's elite counterterrorism unit, explained why he withdrew from the parade. “What benefit do I get if I attend?” he said. “Getting thrown at with eggs and stones is not important, but the most important thing is our whole nation. Tens of thousands of people will go to see the parade and there will be cameras there to take pictures of what is Khmer [culture]. Our people take that opportunity to showcase what Khmer [culture] is. If there is a protest, it will dominate what will be shown... Therefore, it brings shame to the whole nation.”
Throughout his U.S. tour, Manet defended his father's record, saying people should remember the role the sitting prime minister played in bringing peace and national reconciliation to the country. His U.S. trip included stops in Olympia, Washington; Houston, Texas; and Lowell, Massachusetts. His last stop in Lowell was also met with a protest before he headed to Canada.
On the last day of Hun Manet's visit, he was served with court documents by American private investigator Paul Hayes, who was hospitalized after allegedly being thrown to the ground by one of the general's bodyguards outside a restaurant in Long Beach, California. Hayes' subpoena was tied to the wrongful imprisonment lawsuit brought in court by Meach Sovannara. Meach Sovannara was serving a 20-year sentence for taking part in a protest in Phnom Penh in late 2014; he is one of 11 activists jailed on insurrection charges for clashing with police over the closure of a protest site in the capital. Hun Manet's bodyguards were accused of assaulting a process server attempting to hand them legal papers. Hayes' attempt to bring the subpoena to Hun Manet's attention were sufficient to qualify as having served the documents.
Hun Sen returned his country to being a one-party state in 2018 elections, widely derided as a sham, when the CPP won all 125 seats in the National Assembly, the lower house of the country’s Parliament. Victory was assured after the main political opposition party was banned, independent newspapers were closed or sold to government-friendly interests and human rights activists were jailed or fled.
Prior to the 2018 elections, Hun Sen, 67, said, despite health concerns, he would lead Cambodia for another 10 years, until he is 75. He has also eschewed the West and its criticisms while forging closer ties with China, which had invested billions of dollars in Cambodia. The last thing China wants in any country that borders China is something that’s going to affect stability and order and cause any sort of repercussions and resonances that’s might come back over the border at them. Whenever there’s a leadership transition, or about to be, China makes it clear to its friends who it doesn’t like, who it sees as anti-China, and who it would object to. China’s got to be convinced that Hun Manet will carry on like his father and protect China’s interest and that the transition would not be destabilizing.
King Norodom Sihamoni appoints Lieutenant General Hun Manet as Commander of the Army on September 6. 2018, replacing General Meas Sophea, who was appointed Senior Minister in charge of special missions. Mr. Hun Manet is also the Deputy Commander of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and the Commander of the Counter-Terrorism Unit.
Gavin Greenwood, an analyst with A2 Global Risk, a Hong Kong-based security consultancy, told VOA that in raising Hun Manet’s potential succession, legitimate questions about Hun Sen’s rule are also raised, ranging from the prime minister’s health to military loyalty. “It’s always where the trouble is now, in places with a strong ruler. It’s very rarely that the masses coming up from the bottom who are the threat, it’s the people around you,” he said, adding the leadership talk was one way keeping the troops in line.
Carl Thayer, emeritus professor with the University of New South Wales, said in 2020 that by grooming his son for leadership through political appointments but playing down his prospects in public, Hun Sen was limiting any potential rivals for the leadership. “The minute Hun Sen says that; that’s the anointed one, then it gives the opposition, disgruntled forces the opportunity to attempt to organize and block it. So to keep everybody guessing is probably the better game that there is,” he said.
As CPP president, in June 2020 Hun Sen appointed Hun Manet to the position of the party’s central youth leader. He was already a member of the CPP’s standing committee along with 34 other party veterans. Following the appointment, the CPP promoted 23 younger officials—all of whom are the children of the party’s senior leaders and have close ties to Hun Manet—as members of its Youth Standing Committee. Despite his age, Hun Manet is a three-star general who held the positions of deputy commander-general of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF), army commander, commander of the anti-terrorism special forces, and deputy commander of bodyguards.
Hun Sen said 22 June 2020 he was grooming his eldest son Hun Manet to take over leadership of the country but had no plans to step down for another decade, confirming long-held suspicions that the strongman intends to establish a dynasty. Speaking during an inspection of a construction site for the new Phnom Penh International Airport in Kandal province’s Kandal Stoeung district, Hun Sen also vowed that his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) would rule the country for as long as a century. “Hun Manet is not the only candidate [for Prime Minister] within the CPP—there are a lot of candidates,” he said.
“Yet, as his father, I have to support my son and train him so that he is capable [for this position]. If he cannot be like his father, at least his capacity should match that of his father by 80 or 90 percent.” But Hun Sen acknowledged that whether Hun Manet, 43, ultimately becomes prime minister or not “rests with voters.” He said “First, within the party—whether it can accept his candidacy or not—and secondly, he needs to be elected by the people”.
Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen said 01 December 2021 he expects his son Hun Manet to succeed him in office, making the statement, he said, to end speculation about other possible contenders for the job. Speaking at a ground-breaking ceremony in Sihanoukville, Hun Sen — who has ruled Cambodia for more than 35 years — said that while others may run for election to the post, his son has his full support. “Who would dare to oppose this? Hun Sen will die someday, so why not let his son take over?” he asked.
Hun Sen defended the idea of establishing a political dynasty. "Even Japan has its own dynasty, like (former prime minister) Abe. His grandfather was prime minister and he had visited Cambodia. Abe's father was a foreign minister and Abe was a prime minister," Hun Sen said.
Hun Sen said he would not support Cambodian defense minister Tea Banh and interior minister Sar Kheng, both seen by some as possible future candidates, to move up to his own position. They are expected now to continue in their jobs until they retire. Hun Manet, 44, the eldest son of Hun Sen and his wife Bun Rany, had already been made a three-star general in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces despite his age. He has commanded the country’s army since 2018.
Hun Sen on 06 December 2021 walked back recent statements vowing exclusive support for the candidacy of his son to someday replace him in office, saying the contest is still open. Analysts said that Hun Sen, who has held power in Cambodia for more than 35 years, may have softened his stance over fear of provoking a damaging rift within his ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP). Speaking at the opening of a new national road in southeastern Cambodia’s Prey Veng province, Hun Sen said that he himself will run for reelection in any case in 2023.
Hun Sen’s son Hun Manet, 44, will not be eligible to run for the country’s top political job until 2028, he said, adding that the CPP at that time should have at least four candidates contending for the post. “I can say that Hun Manet will be one of the candidates. This does not mean that he’ll be the only candidate,” Hun Sen said.
He also urged the son of the current Defense Minister Tea Banh, the son of Interior Minister Sar Kheng, and the son of the National Assembly’s first vice-president Cheam Yeap to compete for the position. “Their opportunity to run will not come before 2028, though, and will probably be sometime between 2028, 2029, and 2030. They will have to wait,” he said.
In March 2023, Hun Manet was promoted to the rank of four-star general. He recently suspended his role as deputy commander-in-chief of the Royal Cambodian Armed Force to run for the Assembly. “I trained him to be able to work. If he can’t be a prime minister he can do something else for the sake of the country,” Hun Sen said in the Phoenix TV interview. Changes to the Constitution in 2022 did away with a requirement that the Assembly vote to approve a newly designated prime minister, a move believed aimed at easing the transition to Hun Manet.
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