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Hun
Sen once expounded Marxist dogma, but now espouses a capitalism
in which almost anything goes. Quick to show a withering anger,
he can charm dignitaries and trade earthy jokes with villagers
moments later.
"I
am just a transitional person who helped bring Cambodia from war
to peace, bring Cambodia from dictatorship to democracy, bring
Cambodia from planned economy to a free-market economy,"
Hun Sen said in a recent exclusive interview with The Associated
Press.
Friends
and foes agree on two points: The chess-playing workaholic is an
extraordinary example of the self-made man and a cunning
survivor.
"He's
extremely intelligent and has proved more than capable of
running circles around foreigners who have tried to influence
him and domestic opponents who have tried to challenge
him," say Stephen Heder, a scholar of Cambodia at London's
Scholl of Oriental and African Studies.
The
latest to learn were the UN legal experts who demanded that the
UN dominate a proposed tribunal to try former leaders of the
Khmer Rouge, the communist regime blamed for the deaths of more
than 1 million people during its rule in the last 1970s.
The
experts threatened to withhold the UN stamp of legitimacy from
the trial unless the international body got its way.
Hun
Sen answered that Cambodia is a real country and can put the
architects of one of history's worst genocides on trial with or
without UN help. He added that UN moral authority in Cambodia is
limited, since the Khmer Rouge held the country's UN seat a
decade after it was driven from power and its crimes became
known .
When
he became the world's youngest prime minister at age 33 in 1985,
Hun Sen had survived five wounds from fighting with the Khmer
Rouge against the US-backed Lon Nol government in the early
1970s. Artillery shrapnel blinded his left eye.
Hun
Sen barely escaped execution at the hands of the Khmer Rouge
after he turned against the regime in the midst of brutal
internal purges. He fled to Vietnam and returned with an
invading Vietnamese army that toppled the Khmer Rouge in 1979.
He
kept the Vietnamese from taking over Cambodia completely during
their decade-long occupation and rose to the top of a
Hanoi-style regime that fought a Hanoi-style regime that fought
a Khmer Rouge dominated resistance coalition until 1991.
Even
after losing a UN-sponsored election in 1993, the son of poor
farmers who never finished high scholl out maneuvered his chief
political rival, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, to retain the job of
co-prime minister and keep hold on the levers of power.
"The
real success of a man is not money or weapons," Hun Sen
said in the interview. 'To me the important point is to make the
right assessment and to find the right solution. That is why I
have been successful."
Others
differ. Lao Mong Hay. executive director of the Khmer Institute
of Democracy, describes Hun Sen as "a Machiavellian
prince," a compelling communicator and "a Maoist in
that he believes power comes from the barrel of the gun."
He
is both a competent political administrator and a ruthless
political criminal," say Heder.
Sam Rainsy, a pro-democracy advocate can now Hun Sen's main
political rival, calls the prime minister a
"murderer," charging he ordered a 1997 grenade attack
at a Sam Rainsy rally that killed 16 people.
A
direct link to Hun Sen has not been proven in that case, nor in
the killing of some 100 officials of Prince Ranariddh's party
after an uprising by Hun Sen supporters against the prince in
1997.
Cambodia
ranks among the poorest of nations, with deep feudalistic
foundations below new trappings of democracy.
Lao
Mong Hay says Hun Sen presides over a patronage network, makes
key decisions out of his residence and runs cabinet meetings at
which nobody dares challenge his authority.
But
noting Hun Sen's age, 48, and past growth in influence and
ability, Lao Mong Hay believes the premier is capable of
initiating reform and economic improvements-as long as changes
do not undermine his power.
Pointing
to piles of reports on his desk, the chain-smoking Hun Sen said:
'The hot war that confronts us now is the war against poverty. I
want to devote most of my remaining time to social-economic
development."
Even
his worst enemies concede Hun Sen puts in a great deal of time
on the job, starting the day at 7 am and rarely going to bed
before 2 am. When sleeping pills don't work, Hun Sen said he
will work on until 4 am.
One
extracurricular passion is writing lyrics for songs, sometimes
jotting them down in a helicopter or car on inspection trips.
"My experiences make me write sentimental songs," he
said.
Cambodia Daily
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