Hun Sen (born April 4, 1951 or August 5, 1952) is the Prime Minister of Cambodia and is married to Bun Rany. He is a key leader of the Cambodian People's Party, which, has governed Cambodia in a coalition with the Funcinpec party since the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1993. The coalition was shaken by tensions between Funcinpec leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen, who in 1997 launched a bloody military coup, removing Ranariddh and becoming the country's sole prime minister in 1998. Several royalist supporters were tortured to death by CPP members, though Hun Sen denied any involvement. He also denied that his action was a coup, alleging that Funcinpec was collaborating with Khmer Rouge rebels.
The elections of July 2003 resulted in a larger majority in the National Assembly for the CPP, with FUNCINPEC losing seats to CPP and the Sam Rainsy Party. However, CPP's majority was short of the constitutionally-required 2/3 for the CPP to form a government alone. This deadlock was overcome through some creative interpretation of the constitution and a new CPP-FUNCINPEC coalition was formed in mid 2004.
Defection and political career
Initially with the Khmer Rouge, Hun Sen defected and was selected by the Vietnamese for a leadership role in the rebel army and government they were creating for Cambodia. When the Khmer Rouge regime was overthrown, Hun Sen was appointed foreign minister of the Vietnamese-installed People's Republic of Kampuchea in 1979 and served until 1990, with a brief interruption from 1986 until 1987. As foreign minister Hun Sen was a key figure in the Paris Peace Talks which brokered peace in Indochina. He became Prime Minister in 1985, shortly after the death of Chan Sy. From 1993 until 1998 he was co-prime-minister with Prince Norodom Ranariddh. He has been reputed to use intimidation tactics in politics to remain in power.
Some political opponents of Hun Sen accuse him of being a puppet of Hanoi due to his position in the government created by Vietnam while Cambodia was under Vietnamese military occupation. The accusation is also based on the fact that he was involved in the former PRK as a prominent figure in the People's Revolutionary Party of Kampuchea (now known as the Cambodian People's Party,) which governed Cambodia as a one-party state under Vietnamese military occupation from 1979 until the restoration of democracy in 1993. Hun Sen tends to denounce such charges, claiming that he represents only the Cambodian people. More recent political opponents outside the country accuse him of being a corrupt dictator who controls the country by force. The title "Sâmdech" was attached to his name in 1993 by King Norodom Sihanouk. It is only an honorary title and does not give him further powers.
Although Hun Sen's birthday is officially celebrated on April 4, he revealed that his actual date of birth was August 5, 1952 (Cambodia Daily, April 5, 2007). He apparently altered his date of birth to appear older when joining the Khmer Rouge as a youth. He joined the International Parliament for Safety and Peace, an intergovernmental organization with seat in Italy as Senator for Life in October 2007 (see and).
In October, 2007, Hun Sun made a surprise announcement at a graduation ceremony in front of an audience of around 3,000 that his adopted daughter is lesbian. He explained that this was a personal struggle for him and while he had learned that it was OK to be gay, he could not accept this in his own family. As a result, he is taking legal steps to disown his adopted lesbian daughter and to prevent her from any entitlement to inheritance. Nonetheless, he asked the audience to accept gays and lesbians. Also of note, the former King of Cambodia, Norodom Sihanouk, wrote in his website journal that he supported the rights of gays and lesbians to same-sex marriage. |
