Cambodian dictator Hun Sen was doing damage control today after a tweet from his account seemed to relish the failure of Thailand’s Pita Limjaroenrat to become prime minister.
The former Khmer Rouge soldier who has ruled Cambodia with an iron fist for 25 years said today in a new message that he was not being critical of the Move Forward Party leader in the now-deleted tweet which said that Pita’s loss in the parliament was a failure for “the brute opposition in Cambodia,” aka those opposed to his authoritarian rule.
ល្ងាចម្សិលម៉ិញខ្ញុំបានបង្ហោះសារមួយដែលមានន័យថា ការដែលលោក Pita មិនបានជាប់ឆ្នោតជានាយករដ្ឋមន្ត្រីថៃ វាជាបរាជ័យរបស់ក្រុមប្រឆាំងជ្រុលនិយមនៅកម្ពុជា… pic.twitter.com/RaxMXQuL9U
— Hun Sen (@hunsencambodia) July 14, 2023
Hun Sen said today that what he was really trying to say was directed at the “extremist opposition,” aka his political opponents, that would use Pita’s win to operate against his government from Thailand. The salty 70-year-old dictator also repeated his favorite metaphor for his opposition-smashing prowess.
“I do not oppose Pita and neither do I interfere in internal affairs of Thailand,” the message tweeted by his account said in English. “My message is intended to tell the extremist group in Cambodia that their wishes are dissolved like salt in water.”
But the salt flowed both ways, and his original message was inundated by angry Thai responses.
“After I posted my message, many Thai people commented in Thai language which I could not understand,” he added.
After fighting for the genocidal Khmer Rouge, Hun Sen defected to Vietnamese invaders and was a lackey in their puppet government. He led a coup d’etat in 1997 and has ruled ever since. Increasingly paranoid, he has jailed his opponents or drove them into exile while shutting down independent media and banning public gatherings.
