For how long has Hun Sen really led Cambodia?

Brunei's Thirtieth National Day ceremony last week was a timely reminder that Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is not Asia's longest serving leader. That title goes to Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei who has ruled the sultanate as reigning monarch since 1967 and prime minister since independence from Britain in 1984. In addition to being both head of state and head of government, he also serves as the country's defense minister and finance minister.

The 67-year-old sultan may be a veteran regional leader but is by no means the oldest in Southeast Asia since he ascended the throne at a relatively young age of 21 years. The most senior leader in ASEAN is currently the 69-year-old Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong. Myanmar President Thein Sein is the next oldest ASEAN leader at 68.

AMONG YOUNGEST ASEAN LEADERS

At 61, Hun Sen is among the four youngest leaders in Southeast Asia. Apart from being younger than the Lao, Myanmar and Brunei leaders, he is also younger than Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (both 64) as well as Singapore Prime Minister Lee Sien Loong (62). But he is older than Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (60), Philippine President Benigno Aquino (54) and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra (46).

As such, Hun Sen is one of the longest serving leaders in ASEAN but also one of the youngest since, like the Sultan of Brunei, he too came to power at an early age. He was in his late twenties when he became foreign minister after liberation in 1979 and in his early thirties when he first became prime minister in 1985 as one of the youngest heads of government in the world at the time.

LONGEST-SERVING ELECTED LEADER?

Since Brunei is an absolute monarchy with no elections and a a Legislative Council appointed by the sultan, astute commentators often describe Hun Sen as Asia's longest-serving "elected" leader. That's true — but only up to a point. Although the People's Republic of Kampuchea held National Assembly elections in 1981, the emergence of Hun Sen as prime minister four years later was not by popular vote.

Moreover, Hun Sen may have headed the government of the People's Republic between 1985 and 1989 and the interim State of Cambodia between 1989 and 1992, but he did not hold the chairmanship of the State Council, equivalent to head of state and the most powerful position at the time. This post was initially held by Heng Samrin, the secretary general of the Khmer People's Revolutionary Party (and current speaker of the National Assembly as well as honorary chairman of the Cambodian People's Party). Indeed, the Western sanctions against the country in those days frequently referred to the "Heng Samrin regime" with little or no mention of the prime minister. In 1991, Heng Samrin was succeeded by Chea Sim (the current speaker of the Senate who also serves as chairman of the ruling party). It was around this time that Hun Sen rose to prominence as a key powerbroker during the Paris Peace Talks.

SECOND PRIME MINISTER

Hun Sen lost his position as sole prime minister following UN-sponsored elections and the restoration of the Kingdom of Cambodia as a constitutional monarchy in 1993. The Cambodian People's Party came second in elections and Hun Sen duly served as second prime minister between 1993 and 1998. The first prime minister was initially Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the leader of Funcinpec which won the biggest share of the vote in 1993. After fighting between Funcinpec and CPP forces in 1997, the prince was succeeded as first prime minister by fellow Funcinpec politician Ung Huot, who had until then been foreign minister.

Given that it was not until the National Assembly elections of 1998 that he was elected as sole prime minister, it could be argued that Hun Sen has ruled as undisputed leader of Cambodia for 16 years, a bit more than half the 29 years suggested by many commentators. That would be six years short of the 22-year rule of former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who led his country from 1981 to 2003.

Stating that Hun Sen has been Cambodia's leader for 29 years is not unlike asserting that Jacques Chirac was the leader of France for 16 years. In fact, Chirac served as president for only 12 years from 1995 to 2007, the period for which he is best remembered. The other four years come from his two terms as prime minister (from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988). In France, the position of prime minister reporting to the president is similar to the subsidiary role of the premiership under the People's Republic of Kampuchea when Hun Sen first served as prime minister under the chairman of the State Council.

ELDER STATESMAN OF ASIA

Regardless of how the duration of Hun Sen's leadership is measured, the Cambodian prime minister is now undisputed as one of the elder statesmen of Southeast Asia along with the Sultan of Brunei (who Hun Sen has described as his "older brother"). But neither have yet matched the records of previous elder statesmen from the region such as Indonesia's former president Suharto and Singapore's former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. Both ruled their countries for 31 years, from 1967 to 1998 in the case of Suharto and from 1959 to 1990 in the case of Lee. Since stepping down from the premiership, however, Lee retained a commanding presence in the Singapore government in the newly created advisory positions of senior minister (from 1990 to 2004) and "minister mentor" (from 2004 to 2011). On that basis, some might argue that Lee's leadership of Singapore extended to 52 years. - See more at: http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/opinion/detail/3?token=OTgzYmVlZmQ4MzFjNGI2MTc4MWRiZTNhZjNiNTFm#sthash.CHVLTT8k.dpuf