Prime Minister Hun Sen said Khmer Rouge officials — some of whom have been convicted of genocide — were easy to have a meal with, something that he would never do with exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy.
Hun Sen was changing his date of birth on his voter registration on Thursday when he commented on Rainsy, who has been omnipresent in the premier’s speeches this week. The prime minister has called Rainsy’s family traitors and said the opposition leader spreads a dangerous ideology in the country.
Hun Sen said he would stamp out Rainsy’s “extremist” brand of politics and would never issue him a pardon or let him back in the country.
“I already said if I signed a [pardon] again, I will cut off my hand,” he said.
He then pivoted to comparing Rainsy to Khmer Rouge leaders he had met in the past. Hun Sen said he had fought for half of his life against Khmer Rouge leaders like Ieng Sary, Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, but after reaching a truce with them they could at least share a meal.
This would be impossible with Rainsy, he said.
“I held a movement to dissolve the Khmer Rouge organization. I successfully did it,” he said.
“Now, I will continue by appealing to people who are misunderstanding this traitor to move away from this traitor,” Hun Sen added, referring to Rainsy.
All three Khmer Rouge members named by Hun Sen were ruled to be senior members of the murderous regime by a special tribunal, with Samphan and Chea convicted for crimes against humanity and genocide.
The prime minister then made a wider warning to any party that associated with Rainsy, saying he would get them dissolved.
Over the weekend, Rainsy released a video asking people and the armed forces to make change at the 2023 election, which Hun Sen has characterized as a call for overthrowing the government. He mentioned this again on Thursday, saying he would block any attempts at a so-called color revolution.
“If you have the force, please [go ahead]! [But] we have no option except to protect the nation, protect the monarchy, protect the throne, protect the Constitution and protect the government. We have no option,” he said.
