Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Commander Hun Manet, who is widely expected to replace his father as Cambodian prime minister later this year, yesterday was promoted to his country’s highest military rank.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, 71, explicitly declared his support in December 2021 to have the US Military Academy-trained Hun Manet succeed him through constitutional means.
Hun Sen last month hinted strongly that he intends to step down when a new government is installed after July’s general election.
“Now we have found the young generation that will come to replace us. We should hand over to them and just stay behind them,” Hun Sen said at the time.
Hun Manet, 45, was made a four-star general — a promotion from his three-star lieutenant-general’s rank — at a ceremony attended by about 1,000 senior officers at the Cambodian Ministry of National Defense in Phnom Penh.
He was formally granted his promotion last month by King Norodom Sihamoni, whose position is largely symbolic.
In a statement posted on Facebook after the promotion ceremony, Hun Manet thanked the king, his father, Cambodian Minister of National Defense Tea Banh and all the army’s officers for their trust and support, and for providing him a chance to serve Cambodia and its people.
Hun Manet holds several key security posts, and was elevated in 2018 from the 865-member Central Committee of his father’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party to its 37-member Standing Committee, the country’s key decisionmaking body, making him a de facto member of his father’s inner political circle.
In a speech at the ceremony, Tea Banh — one of Hun Sen’s most important early supporters — credited Hun Manet for upgrading and reforming Cambodia’s military since he became army chief in 2018.
Hun Sen has led Cambodia with an iron fist for 38 years, and during the election in 2018 vowed to stay in office for two more terms, until 2028.
He often spoke of having Hun Manet succeed him, and appointed him to several high-profile and important positions.
Hun Sen said the new post-election government would likely be formed in September.
Hun Sen has maintained power as an autocrat in a nominally democratic framework.
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