NEAK LOEUNG, Cambodia (AP) – Hun Sen, Cambodia’s tough and wily prime minister, marked 30 years in power Wednesday, one of just a handful of political strongmen worldwide who have managed to cling to their posts for three decades.
Since first taking up the job of prime minister at age 33, he has consolidated power with violence and intimidation of opponents that continue to draw criticism from human rights advocates. But he can also take some credit for bringing modest economic growth and stability in a country devastated by the communist Khmer Rouge’s regime in the 1970s, which left some 1.7 million people dead from starvation, disease and executions.
“Hun Sen is one of the cleverest politicians Asia has ever seen,” said Sebastian Strangio, author of a recent biography of the Cambodian leader.
In a speech marking the ceremonial completion of the country’s longest, 2,200-meter (7,200-foot) Japanese-funded bridge across the Mekong River on Wednesday, the 62-year-old Hun Sen defended his record, saying that only he was daring enough to tackle the Khmer Rouge and help bring peace to Cambodia.
“If Hun Sen hadn’t been willing to enter the tigers’ den, how could we have caught the tigers?” he said. He acknowledged some shortcomings, but pleaded for observers to see the good as well as the bad in his leadership.