Cambodia And Hun Sen

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

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Hun Sen emerges on the scene at the end of Khmer Rouges genocide as a puppet of Vietnam.

Later the UN organizes elections.  He loses and refuses to step down.  Shares power with the victor.

Essentially a thug in and around power since the late 70s.  Corrupt to the core without apologies.

His whim is the law.  Is it surprising that Cambodia has failed to take off economically?

[Omollo]

I have very ambivalent feelings about that. On one hand there are democratic values that have to be upheld: On the other we have Sihanouk - a protege of a murderous Red Khmer.

What if Hun Sen had quit? The country be under his control by virtue of his Communists not separating State and Party.

Hun Sen emerges on the scene at the end of Khmer Rouges genocide as a puppet of Vietnam.

Later the UN organizes elections.  He loses and refuses to step down.  Shares power with the victor.

Essentially a thug in and around power since the late 70s.  Corrupt to the core without apologies.

His whim is the law.  Is it surprising that Cambodia has failed to take off economically?

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

I have very ambivalent feelings about that. On one hand there are democratic values that have to be upheld: On the other we have Sihanouk - a protege of a murderous Red Khmer.

What if Hun Sen had quit? The country be under his control by virtue of his Communists not separating State and Party.

Hun Sen emerges on the scene at the end of Khmer Rouges genocide as a puppet of Vietnam.

Later the UN organizes elections.  He loses and refuses to step down.  Shares power with the victor.

Essentially a thug in and around power since the late 70s.  Corrupt to the core without apologies.

His whim is the law.  Is it surprising that Cambodia has failed to take off economically?

There was that too.  Though since they were defeated at the time, it's questionable if they would have exercised any influence on him. 

Hun Sen pulls a Kibaki template and refuses to go into the night.

For me, what stands out?  The striking similarities in the behavior of the Cambodian political class and outcomes with those of sub-Saharan Africa.

[Kim Jong-Un's Pajama Pants]

If you replace the names with others from a more familiar place, you should be forgiven if you think that this is a valid story about that familiar place.  The Cambodian, it appears will also use the letter of the law to NOT facilitate attempts at exposing and fighting corruption.

Council of Ministers Secretary of State Tek Reth Samrach yesterday rebuked opposition lawmakers Ho Vann and Son Chhay over their criticism of a government directive forbidding ministry employees from dealing directly with lawmakers on corruption issuesa June 5 circular sent to government employees by the cabinet undermined the role of parliamentary commissions in fighting graftThe document, released by Samrach on Thursday, told public servants they needed approval by their respective minister or superior before meeting with, or giving information to, lawmakers.

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/govt-slams-edict-pushback

[Reticent Solipsist]

I have very ambivalent feelings about that. On one hand there are democratic values that have to be upheld: On the other we have Sihanouk - a protege of a murderous Red Khmer.

What if Hun Sen had quit? The country be under his control by virtue of his Communists not separating State and Party.

Hun Sen emerges on the scene at the end of Khmer Rouges genocide as a puppet of Vietnam.

Later the UN organizes elections.  He loses and refuses to step down.  Shares power with the victor.

Essentially a thug in and around power since the late 70s.  Corrupt to the core without apologies.

His whim is the law.  Is it surprising that Cambodia has failed to take off economically?

There was that too.  Though since they were defeated at the time, it's questionable if they would have exercised any influence on him. 

Hun Sen pulls a Kibaki template and refuses to go into the night.

For me, what stands out?  The striking similarities in the behavior of the Cambodian political class and outcomes with those of sub-Saharan Africa.

Way back in the '80s, I had a college roommate who was Cambodian adopted by an American family -- he was then one of only a handful of college-going Cambodians in the entire US! Through his contacts I was then able to meet the late Haing Ngor, who acted in the film The Killing Fields. What I most recall about the Cambodians was their propensity for extremities -- the apt case you point out of the Royalist Norodom Sihanouk -- at once a dapper, sophisticated cosmopolitan yet also in a dalliance with the Chinese inspired atavistic Khmer Rouge of Pol Pot. Mind boggling.

When my buddy sent me a link of the corrupt dictator Hun Sen celebrating at his son's marriage in the most opulent wedding in poverty stricken and aid-dependent Cambodia, the disgust was palpable.

[Real P]

Hun Sen is a saint if you compare him to Pol Pot, the communist leader of Khmer Rouge, who tried to rebuild Cambodia as an Agrarian society. His totalitarian regime imposed severe hardships on the Cambodian people.

 - Killed anywhere from 15% to 40% of his population in four years

- Forced everybody out of the cities (including one the size of Chicago) to work on concentration camps

- Killed not only anyone that wasn't for the party but really anybody that the party felt didn't fit their ideology. Basically anybody who wasn't a farming peasant. Minority? Not dirt poor? Have any form of education? Check for any of those things and its instant execution.

- Forced pretty much everyone in the country to slave concentration camps

- Wanted the country to go back to ancient times, including using ancient technology. Firearms got a free pass for some reason though.

- Destroyed his economy


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