Phnom Penh (FN), Aug. 19 – Hun Manet, the eldest son of the former Prime Minister Hun Sen has been serving as the prime minister of Cambodia for one year counting from August 23, 2023 to August 23, 2024. There are a lot of hopes and expectations for Hun Manet as the prime minister of Cambodia because he gained most of his education in the US and UK, which are the democratic and also the powerful countries in the world.
Samdech Hun Sen, the current Senate President of Cambodia served as the prime minister of Cambodia for thirty-eight years. Hun Sen is treated as the hero of Cambodia because he ended war and he has also brought peace and stability for Cambodia.
The current ruling party of Cambodia is still very popular among Cambodian people, after the general election in 2023, Hun Manet was selected by the ruling party to be new prime minister.
When Hun Sen was the prime minister of Cambodia, he was treated as the person who brought Cambodia to be so close to China, there are western medias that called Cambodia as the China-Client State. Cambodia’s foreign policy under Hun Sen was fairly treated as balancing because Cambodia maintained good relations with all countries in the world such as the US, Australia, South Korea, ASEAN countries, EU, and China. The problems of interpreting Cambodia’s foreign policy as the too close to China because there are countries that do not like China and there are people who just hate everything about China.
There are countries that have big businesses with China but at the same time they tell the world that China is a bad country which should not be a good friend. There is a country that takes big advantages from China, and there is a country that controls many parts of South China Sea (Second) but pretends to be a victim of everything about China and then accused Cambodia of being a friend of China.
Hun Sen is a very strategic leader but he faced many problems in his foreign policy because Cambodia is too small and Cambodia still needs support and donation from development partners. Hun Manet, the current prime minister of Cambodia is a calmed leader with long-leadership vision to lead Cambodia but he also faced a lot of problems in his leadership.
Hun Manet gained his PhD degree in economy from Bristol University in the UK, being the prime minister of one country, it is not about the degree of your education but the ability to lead the country in the effective ways that lead Cambodia to be developed and maintain peace as well as stability and prosperity.
Within one year of his leadership, we cannot describe everything just within one night but we can say that Hun Manet has made the great achievement for Cambodia and he has been working very hard to solve problems inside-outside Cambodia.
Hun Manet works very hard to attract foreign investors to invest in Cambodia and he travelled to China, Vietnam, Thailand, France, Malaysia, Lao, South Korea, and the UN office to address his strong commitment to develop Cambodia and guarantee good business atmosphere for investment. Besides addressing good messages to attract foreign investors, Cambodian prime minister should solve problems that happened for foreign investors who are already in Cambodia.
For foreign policy, Hun Sen and Hun Manet faced almost the same problems because Cambodia is a small country with small economic size, low population, limitation in military power, not enough voice in international community, and Cambodia is located among the jealous friends who may color Cambodia for their benefits.
For local problems, Hun Manet is very lucky because Hun Sen developed almost all parts of Cambodia and Hun Sen has paved the ways for Hun Manet in different fields. There are big internal issues that Hun Sen has solved under his leadership which we must acknowledge that Hun Sen is really a strong man. Hun Sen is a great leader who is full of vision to lead Cambodia and he is the real hero of Cambodia. The changes of Hun Sen’s foreign policy in 1999 have shown that he loves Cambodia the most.
Hun Manet is a man with high education and high morality, and he does not want to use harsh words to senior officials, he understands that he needs to respect those senior officials. Senior (old) officials should not create problems for Hun Manet because it is time to solve problems and to compete with outsiders.
Some senior officials in the ruling party may want high respect from Hun Manet. Cambodian farmers expect that Hun Manet will pay more attention on the agricultural sector. Cambodian workers abroad expect that Hun Manet will pay more attention to them. Public servants may expect that Hun Manet will increase their payment. Some jealous neighboring countries want to push Cambodia into troubles which Cambodian leaders must be very careful in all steps. Genocide by proxy: Cambodian pawn on a superpower chessboard, is the best book for Cambodian leaders to learn and remember.
In conclusion, it is too early to judge Hun Manet’s leadership within one year because there are still many things awaiting for him, Hun Manet should look inside Cambodia to understand the real problems if he wants to attract foreign investors, and should look within if there is too complicated system for businesspeople. A strong commitment to work is the best model but promotion people at the right position, using people with the right tasks, and receiving correct information from location would be another blessing for Hun Manet. Building trust is easy to say but hard to perform.
Seun Sam is a policy analyst at the Royal Academy of Cambodia. All views in this article are his own.
=FRESH NEWS
