Cambodian strongman Hun Sen has a warning for protesters. (Photo: AFP)
Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned his government “will do what it takes to crack down” on dissidents planning protests against his authoritarian rule when Cambodia takes its turn chairing the Association of South East Nations (ASEAN) in 2022.
Hun Sen delivered his stern warning while announcing his three pillars for the year ahead with the “political and security” topping the agenda with a focus on ASEAN unity after the economy and sociocultural aspects of the trade bloc.
“I will do what it takes to crack down on protests during Cambodia’s ASEAN chairmanship,” Hun Sen said in a dispatch from the government-friendly Fresh News service.
Hundreds of opposition dissidents have been rounded-up over the last two years and detained on charges ranging from incitement and treason, including a 16-year-old boy whose father, a senior member of the outlawed Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP), has also been detained.
Human rights groups have backed his family’s claim the youth is autistic.
“If you violate the laws, you will be sentenced even amidst Cambodia’s hosting [of] ASEAN,” the PM added.
Human rights groups are already upset by the deteriorating state of Cambodia’s democracy and warnings like this I don’t think will be particularly helpful
The CNRP came tantalizingly close to winning the popular vote at elections in 2013. Protests followed and the party was dissolved by the courts in 2017 amid a crackdown on the free press and civil society groups.
Hun Sen’s long-ruling Cambodian People’s Party then won every seat contested at general elections a year later.
Cambodia was widely praised when it first hosted ASEAN in 2002 but the summit in 2012 was marred by protests and 10 years later some of those demonstrators are before the courts, including the prominent Christian and pro-democracy activist Theary Seng.
As chair of ASEAN, analysts said, Cambodia is in a unique position to open up the country as the pandemic eases and bolster its economy which has been crushed by Covid-19.
Organizers are hoping that bureaucrats, foreign ministers and leaders from the 10 ASEAN nations and its dialogue partners, ranging from New Zealand to India and the United States to China, will travel to Phnom Penh and return to face-to-face meetings.
ASEAN has relied on webinars and Zoom conferences over the last two years due to the pandemic.
“This is a big year for the Cambodian government and Hun Sen,” one analyst, who declined to be named, said. “There’s a lot at stake, including the crises in Myanmar, Chinese expansionism and the South China Sea and with Covid-19 it’s about trying to put the region back together again.
“How Hun Sen and this government handles that will be remembered. Human rights groups are already upset by the deteriorating state of Cambodia’s democracy and warnings like this I don’t think will be particularly helpful.”