Prime Minister Hun Sen on Tuesday said he is not threatened by King Norodom Sihanouk and is not worried the King will abdicate, responding to the monarch’s recent statements that he has no wish to challenge the premier’s authority but would step down if called upon to do so by a majority of the National Assembly.
“If the King were prime minister, that would be nonsense, and the country would no longer be a constitutional monarchy,” Hun Sen said in a Tuesday morning speech inaugurating a religious school in Preak Phnov commune, Ponhea Leu district, Kandal province. The speech was broadcast on Apsara radio.
“To be prime minister, you have to be a member of parliament from the winning political party,” the premier said.
In a statement issued Sunday, King Sihanouk wrote, “Some Cambodians and foreigners have ascribed to me the desire to challenge the power of Head of Government Hun Sen and to govern Cambodia as the present government does. I have no intention or ambition for such a cheap and illegal act.”
Hun Sen commended the monarch’s statement, saying both men were firmly ensconced in their respective positions by law as well as personal preference.
“There’s nothing in the Constitution about abdication. The Constitution states that the King shall be the head of state for life,” the premier said. “The King stays in his most high place—why would he step down to work as prime minister?
Being prime minister is a constant headache; one is repeatedly attacked and barely has time to sleep, Hun Sen said. By contrast, “The Constitution stipulates that the King is inviolable. So why would he step down and allow people to attack him?”
Hun Sen recalled a statement last month in which King Sihanouk—responding to the accusation that the premier belittled the throne by attacking Funcinpec lawmaker Princess Norodom Vacheara—said members of the royal family who enter the political arena have the same status and responsibilities as any other politicians.
“If [the King] were prime minister, he would be a politician, so no one would have to treat him as the King,” Hun Sen said.
