Who's the boss?

By Kok Sap -19 May 2009
It has been 6 years since 2003, donors and observers keep hearing the same tune from Hun Sen when comes to asking for more aids. In 2007, he said – “A draft of the Anti-Corruption Law […] is in its final stages of consideration within the government before being sent to the National Assembly.”

Last year 2008,he sounded- “The Royal Government is committed without any hesitation to fighting corruption by undertaking many concrete actions to meet this objective including the drafting of the anti-corruption law itself.”– “Reform is not just a shallow word."

Indeed that was not just a shallow but an empty word.

In all appearances Hun Sen seems to be in a driver seat but ,the insiders said otherwise, Hun Sen can't sit unless that person said so. Nearly all key government executive offices are given to same person. To date that person is untouchable and very powerful even more than Hun Sen, himself.

The person is so cunning and manipulative to even eliminate his potential rivals and obstacles in power grab. Obviously Hok Lundi and General Ke Kim Yan seemed to be in his way. All witnessed General Hok Lundi was killed in a presumed weather hazard and no further investigation. Then not long after that incident, General Ke Kim Yan was disgracefully fired from armed forces high command. The excuse was Ke Kim Yan has owned too much lands.

Knowing the certainty of the worst, if Hun Sen wanted to reform Cambodia,it will be this guy whom he had to face first. Hun Sen has to return most of this guy roles and executive power to the national assembly to redistribute to others to keep balance in transparency and accountability.

People in Phnom Penh say it's not what Hun Sen said but what this guy did to Cambodia. Hun Sen is the prime minister to the outside but inside government houses, he is seen so incapable to even giving marching orders to others without approval from this guy.

Who's this guy?

His name is Sok An, a Viet descent, the current deputy prime minister for Cambodia and chairman of the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority (CNPA). He has more authorities and unquestionable power than all ministries combined. To most Cambodian government senior officials he is the storm and thunder maker.

Like many of his peers in the in the Cambodian Peoples’ Party (CPP), under Hanoi given alias, Sok An, began his career as a bureaucrat during Vietnam’s occupation in the early 1980s and rose to prominence alongside Prime Minister Hun Sen. An astute political operator, he remained by Hun Sen’s side throughout the CPP’s ruthless consolidation of power and is now one of the prime minister’s closest allies. Their relationship was recently strengthened through the arranged marriage of Sok An’s son Sok Puthyvuth to Hun Sen’s daughter Hun Mali.

Global Witness has written about Sok An previously in his capacity as co-signatory on many of the original agreements for logging concessionaires in Cambodia.These concession agreements formed the basis of the disastrous destruction of forests which followed, at great cost to Cambodia’s environment and little benefit to Cambodia’s economy.

As the regime’s second-in-command, Sok An holds a number of other important governmental positions, so many in fact that he has been likened to a many-armed Hindu god, due to his
tendency to have a hand in everything. It came as little surprise that, when the CNPA was established in 1998, Sok An was elected as its chairman. Since then he has presided over all contracts awarded to oil companies, acting as the point person for potential investors.

One cartoonist’s view of the many-armed Sok An holding many key positions:
-Permanent Vice Chairman of the Supreme Council for State Reform,
-Chairman of the Council for Administrative Reform,
-Chairman of the National Tourism Authority,
-Vice Chairman of the Centralist Democratic Institute (CDI),
-Vice Chairman the Asia Pacific Institute;
-Chief of the Apasara Authority,
-Chief of the National Land Dispute Authority,
-Chief of the Cambodia Training Board,
-Chief of the Royal Academy,
-Chief of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal,
-Member of the Council of Royal Administration and Chief of the State Investment Board on Rubber Enterprise.

In his spare time he also finds time to chair the Cambodian National Scout Association and run his private cock fighting sport arenas and money bidding operation.This is the root of corruption that is up close and too personal to Hun Sen. Although with the laws passed and implemented,as long as Sok An remains with too much power in hands, Hun Sen will have a hard time to wrestle him down. Also people have already lost patience with Hun Sen. So only time will tell who will be the next person to bump Hun Sen off the prime minister seat. The Karma wheel turns in the same mannor and direction as Hun Sen has done to his friends and predecessors.