Any hopes that Cambodia could become more democratic or friendlier to the West after Prime Minister Hun Sen’s departure are misguided, leading opposition figure Sam Rainsy (pic) said.
Hun Sen, one of the world’s longest-serving leaders, this week said he would resign and hand power to his eldest son, Hun Manet, 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 rival parties banned, challengers forced to flee and freedom of expression stifled.
“Some people think that with Hun Manet, Hun Sen’s son, it will be better than with the father, the regime will be better, the Cambodian people will have more freedoms. The new government would be less hostile to the West, would distance itself from China,” Rainsy said in an interview from his exile base in Paris.
“I think this is pure illusion.”
Rainsy, who is leader of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) and lives in exile in France to avoid charges he says are politically motivated, said Hun Sen was “preserving the current system” by next month handing the premiership to Hun Manet, a 45-year-old four-star general.
“You can change leaders many times but nothing will change because the system remains the same,” Rainsy said.
Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) last week won a landslide victory in an election with no meaningful opposition.
But Rainsy said that the Cambodian people’s desire for more democracy remained intact, even after the decades of Hun Sen’s rule. — AFP
