PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (AP) – Cambodian army chief Hun Manet (AP, pic below), who is widely expected to replace his father as the country’s prime minister, was promoted yesterday to his country’s highest military rank.
Prime Minister Hun Sen, 71, explicitly declared his support in December 2021 to have the United States Military Academy-trained Hun Manet succeed him through constitutional means. In mid-March, Hun Sen 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 a thousand senior officers at the Defence Ministry in the capital Phnom Penh.
In a statement posted on his Facebook page after the promotion ceremony, Hun Manet thanked the king, his father, Defence Minister 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 already 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 decision-making body.
In a speech at the ceremony, Tea Banh credited Hun Manet for upgrading and reforming Cambodia’s military since he became army chief in 2018.
Hun Sen has led Cambodia for 38 years, and during the last election in 2018 had vowed to stay in office for two more terms, until 2028. At the same time, he spoke often of having Hun Manet succeed him and appointed him to several high-profile and important positions. He said the new post-election government would likely be formed in September.
