Singapore’s transition makes a mockery of Cambodia’s
samlot chit
Singapore’s transition makes a mockery of Cambodia’s
Then-Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen (left) inspects troops with his son successor son Hun Manet. Photo: Handout / AFPSingapore is giving us a glimpse of what Cambodia could become. New Prime Minister Lawrence Wong benefits from a consultative approach to policy as he takes over from Lee Hsien Loong, who had been in power for 20 years.
Lee Hsien Loong is the son of Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of modern Singapore. The change of power means that for the first time since the city-state became independent, members of the Lee family neither hold the position of prime minister nor stand next in line to take over.
Wong’s appointment in May 2024 followed the “Forward Singapore” consultative exercise launched in June 2022. More than 200,000 Singaporeans were involved in the process, which led to a 180-page report being published in October 2023. The report sets out progressive priorities like retraining people who want to change careers and providing support for the unemployed.
The contrast with Cambodia could hardly be starker. Long-serving Prime Minister Hun Sen handed the position to his son Hun Manet in August 2023 in a process devoid of consultation. Democratic opposition to the Hun family regime, whether in the form of the Cambodia National Rescue Party or the Candlelight Party, was barred from contesting national elections in 2018 and 2023.
Wong has said that his government will have a consultative approach to policy-making and that his team is “prepared to re-examine all our assumptions.” Meanwhile, Hun Sen, now president of Cambodia’s Senate, brushed away concerns about a planned Chinese-backed canal in Cambodia by saying that he never made a wrong decision in 47 years of power.
Singapore, of course, is not a democracy in the Western sense. The political system has been dominated by the People’s Action Party (PAP) since 1959. Like Cambodia, the media is mostly state-controlled and the country lacks an independent electoral commission.
Yet political opposition is tolerated in Singapore, and elections, the results of which are recognized by the opposition, serve a purpose. Greater diversity of opinions and a more meritocratic approach to governance have paid dividends.
Singapore’s “freedom score” as calculated by Freedom House stands at 48 out of 100 in 2024, far ahead of Cambodia on 23. Singapore had a gross national income of US$70,810 per head in 2023, a level of which most Cambodians can only dream. The World Bank says that the city-state has one of the most business-friendly environments in the world.
There was no fundamental reason why Cambodia could not have achieved a similar economic miracle, but for the twin disasters of the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s and the long period of corrupt and autocratic rule under former Khmer Rouge cadre Hun Sen which followed.
Today, Cambodia has moved further away from the Singapore model and towards a North Korea-style system by relying on family ties as the factor that determines access to power. An analysis of the 125 candidates for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party in the July 2023 election found that almost a quarter of them are related to each other.
The transfer of office from Hun Sen to Hun Manet in August 2023 was accompanied by the handover by a series of ministers of their posts to their sons.
Hun Manet’s younger brother Hun Many has since been appointed as a deputy prime minister. Hun Sen has said he will resume his role of prime minister, if necessary, and has also talked of one of his grandchildren one day taking over power from Hun Manet.
Hun Manet has shown no sign of having an independent vision for the future of Cambodia. He is effectively muddling along with his father as back-seat driver. Not a single one of the political prisoners jailed under Hun Sen has been released under Hun Manet, and new arrests have continued.
Neither is there any change in terms of foreign policy. Cambodia’s alliance with Communist China is vital for the Hun regime in terms of financial and military support. China won’t leave Cambodia for as long as the Hun family rests in power. Having a compliant Cambodia willing to host China’s naval base at Ream is a fundamental part of China’s expansionist strategy.
Singapore has been much more decisive than Cambodia on key Asian issues such as the illegitimate military regime in Myanmar. Hun Sen achieved nothing in Myanmar during Cambodia’s period as chair of ASEAN in 2022 and undermined any possibility of ASEAN being able to present a united front in the face of the large-scale and ongoing junta violence in the country.
In contrast, Thomas Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, has said that Singapore “immediately responded” to his 2023 report that found weapons for the junta were being sourced from Singapore.
There is no evidence the Singapore government had knowledge of the weapons transfers that were taking place. Andrews says that exports of weapons materials from Singapore to Myanmar dropped by 83% after his report’s publication.
The lesson from Singapore is clear: Governance matters and society benefits from open and consultative forms of governance that allow varying points of view to be expressed and heard.
Most countries in the world pay at least lip service to these truths. Very few states are willing to completely reject them and retreat into a purely hereditary system.
Cambodia is one of those very few. For as long as the international community continues with “business as usual” with the Hun Manet regime, the losers will be the people of Cambodia.
Sam Rainsy is co-founder of the banned opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.