More sons of high ranking officials and others with longstanding ties to the ruling CPP received top government leadership roles in a wave of recent Royal Decrees, part of a generational succession across government.
After Hun Manet became prime minister, Mao Sophan officially replaced him as commander of the Royal Cambodian Army. Sophan had held the position since Manet suspended his duties in April to run for parliament. Sophan commanded the Brigade 70 Unit, which until 2009 included Hun Sen’s personal bodyguard unit.
Sok Veasna was appointed the director general of the Interior Ministry’s Department of Immigration, replacing Kirt Chantharith, who was promoted to Interior Ministry secretary of state. Top Neth was also appointed to director general at the General Department of Identification.
Veasna’s father, Sok Phal, had previously been an Interior Ministry Secretary of State also overseeing immigration. Sok Phal was allegedly involved in covering up political violence and intimidation in the UNTAC era and has been named as a perpetrator in a range of alleged abuses by the NGO Human Rights Watch.
The eldest son of longtime Mines and Energy Ministry Secretary of State Ith Praing, Praing Chulasa, was tapped to run the state utilities firm Electricite du Cambodge. He replaced Keo Rottanak, the new Mines and Energy minister.
Chulasa was already involved in managing the firm’s affairs for years, and his family has since the early 2000s built up a lucrative real estate portfolio in the US, RFA reported.
The son of Royal Palace Minister Kong Sam Ol, Kong Sanya, took over as director general of the state-owned Calmette hospital, replacing new Health Minister Chheang Ra (who is married to Hun Sen’s niece).
Royal decrees also appointed 363 new advisors to the government, including three prominent defectors from opposition parties — Sar Longdeth, Youk Neang, and Khoem Pheana.
Pheana was convicted to serve more than two years in prison for supporting the return of outlawed-CNRP leaders in 2020.
Also among the list of advisors was Malaysian tycoon Chen Lip Keoung, senior CEO of NagaCorp, who owns exclusive casino rights to Phnom Penh and has fought against striking employees for more than a year. Keoung is a longtime advisor.
“For the advisor it does not matter what their nationality is as long as they have knowledge and skills to help the government, they can become an advisor,” said new government spokesperson Pen Bona.
Soeng Senkaruna, a senior investigator for rights group Adhoc, observed that democratic countries select people who have ability, willingness to develop the nation and society, and are competitive with each other. He expressed concern about the recent expansion of government officials.
“If they take positions as benefits without responding to their duty properly, I think it is a dangerous national leadership system,” he said. “If everyone does not have achievements or ability and their promotion is family oriented, it is clear the performance of their roles will not improve and cannot change development.”
Bona also downplayed civil society groups’ criticisms of the increased official appointments, which included more than doubling the undersecretary and secretary of states roles, explaining that the government was expanding to build the nation.
“[We] collect human resources to assist the work of the government, so if we look at the negative point, we will see a lot of people and wonder what will they do?” he said. “But if we look at the positive points, the collection of human resources will help each other.”
He added that some advisors were volunteers who did not receive salary but said he “does not remember” the number when asked. He also denied that nepotism played a role in government appointments.
“In leadership, if we choose based on if this person is from that family or those families, it isn’t correct, we need to look at their ability and be effective whether they have the ability to lead,” Bona said.
“Our laws do not prohibit the appointment of only one family member to work [in government], it is not stated in the law,” he added.
