For a head of state that inherited the position from his father who ruled for over 3 decades, Prime Minister Hun Manet’s actions show remarkable insecurity. Hun Manet, eldest son of Hun Sen; Cambodia’s longest ruling Prime Minister, continues to face challenges in solidifying his grip on power. The transition of power that took place in 2023 from father to son was no shock to both domestic and foreign observers when the National Assembly voted in Manet’s favor. The same National Assembly was dominated by the Hun Dynasty’s Cambodian People’s Party through coercion tactics such as disqualifying oppositions on the basis of legal technicality and inciting fear among critics and voters.
Nevertheless, there was a sprout of hope that PM Manet could become a reformer. Optimist attributed his exposure to different ideas during his education in the US and UK as a possibility that he might govern differently. There was even anticipation that his ascension to office could re-new Cambodia – US ties that were long strained due to human rights abuses in the Southeast Asian nation. His administration in the early days made efforts to reduce overreliance on China for trade and investment by reaching out to Japan albeit in modest amounts. Amidst all the excitement, most observers predicted that the senior Hun Sen will still be the one calling the shots.
Despite all the enthusiasm, there were still issues that PM Manet was paying little to no attention to. Since PM Manet took office Cambodia started to catch headlines for hosting human trafficking rings that would force their victims (usually foreign nationals) to conduct online scams. An illegal yet undeniably profitable industry with reports claiming that it takes up to 60% of Cambodia’s GDP. Despite facing pressures from governments of the victim’s nationality, PM Manet’s administration actions were performative at best, an expected move given that the ring leaders were well connected to the government. These include Ly Yong Phat, a MP and businessman with alleged ties to the scam industry and PM Manet’s own cousin Hun To, a major shareholder of Huione group, an alleged online scam ring posing as a digital financial service provider.
It did not take long for PM Manet to show autocratic tendencies such as the usual arrest of protestors, convicting an opposition leader on incitement charges and even conducting political assassinations. Although PM Manet’s administration denies involvement in the killing of Lim Kimya, the follow up action and the evidence suggest otherwise. This confirmed suspicions that the elder Hun was still one calling the shots.
While the last 2 cases both happened in 2025, they pale in comparison to PM Manet hijacking the narrative of the border conflict with Thailand to frame himself as the defender of Cambodia’s sovereignty and to distract the people from his controversial actions against the opposition. Despite 2 separate attempts to maintain a ceasefire, the skirmishes between the countries are still going on with the civilians from both sides residing by the border paying the heaviest price with their lives. The National Assembly as well took advantage of the conflict by passing a law which grants the government to strip citizenship from Cambodians who “collude” with foreign countries. A new tool which will most likely be used to silence dissidents.
These tactics that PM Manet uses are not new, they are all straight out of his father’s playbook. All from imprisoning critics to using border clashes to stir up nationalistic fervor. Cambodia under the Hun dynasty stands as testament to how laborious but more importantly how counter productive it is to maintain an autocracy. With the goal to maintain a firm grip on power, autocrats like the Huns crush critics using methods that are constitutionally questionable at best and outright violate human rights at worst. These methods cause outrage among the population which threatens the autocrat’s grip on power even more, forcing them to use even harsher methods. There are more sustainable methods of staying relevant in a country’s political affairs, the prime example of this is Taiwan’s KMT. A Party that held dictatorship status yet pleased voters before leaning into democracy to change with the times and continues to enjoy decent approval rates. The sooner the Hun dynasty realizes this, the higher chance it has in reforming and receiving saving grace by giving in to the demands of the people.
