{"id":23679,"date":"2015-01-14T17:04:34","date_gmt":"2015-01-14T16:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/?p=23679"},"modified":"2015-01-14T18:37:21","modified_gmt":"2015-01-14T17:37:21","slug":"23679","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/23679\/","title":{"rendered":"Hun Sen’s Rule of Cambodia?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sebastian Strangio writes:\u00a0 In late November, Cambodia\u2019s government offered the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) some concessions. One was that the parliament would formally recognize the CNRP\u2019s president, Sam Rainsy, as leader of the opposition, with a \u201crank equal to the prime minister.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most Cambodians know only Hun Sen who marks his 30th anniversary in power. In that time, the Cambodian leader has been one of the world\u2019s great political Houdinis, passing unscathed through repeated cycles of his country\u2019s turbulent history.<\/p>\n

Hun Sen now faces perhaps the greatest challenge of his career: to win back Cambodian voters without undermining the tycoons who have bankrolled his long reign. Does an aging strongman have the energy for another rebranding before elections due in 2018? Whatever happens, Cambodia\u2019s singular leader has made it clear he isn\u2019t going anywhere. After the January 2014 garment protest crackdown, Hun Sen showed no remorse for those killed, warning that he would meet further protests with even bigger demonstrations of his own. \u201cIf Hun Sen comes out to do something,\u201d he said<\/a>, \u201cit\u2019s not going to be small.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hun Sen\u2019s remarkable career has tracked the tumults of modern Cambodia. Throughout the 1970s Hun Sen fought for those \u201cKhmers Rouges,\u201d or Red Khmers, as Sihanouk dubbed them. After taking power in April 1975, the Khmer Rouge established a network of brutal labor camps in the Cambodian countryside, which led to the death of an estimated 1.7 million Cambodians \u2014 nearly a quarter of the population.<\/p>\n

After 2013\u2019s election, Hun Sen promised change. Ministries have been reshuffled; reforms have been launched in education and environmental policy. At the same time, the government has ruled out any possibility of a new administration. After opposition supporters and unions took to the streets in December 2013 calling for Hun Sen\u2019s resignation, security forces fired at striking garment workers on Phnom Penh\u2019s outskirts on Jan. 3, 2014, leaving five dead. Politicians and protesters have since been hauled into court on spurious charges.\u00a0\u00a0 Hun Sen of Cambodia<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Hun<\/a><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sebastian Strangio writes:\u00a0 In late November, Cambodia\u2019s government offered the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) some concessions. One was that the parliament would formally recognize the CNRP\u2019s president, Sam Rainsy, as leader of the opposition, with a \u201crank equal … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corruption","category-finance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t