By Kate Bartlett
PHNOM PENH
Cambodia's 63-year-old prime minister has quashed rumors of a heart attack with a quick public appearance, vowing that he will live until he’s 93, chiding the opposition and warning them that they will rue his death.
Anyone “who prays for Hun Sen’s death” is “an idiot,” he said, referring to himself in the third person.
"If I really die, you must pack your bags and run away… because no one can control the armed forces [when I'm gone],” the Phnom Penh Post reported him as saying Wednesday.
The opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) has been boycotting parliament since national elections in July returned Hun Sen to power. The CNRP regular protests, alleges widespread fraud, and has demanded a re-vote, but has now - while the political stalemate continues - called for early elections in 2016.
CNRP leader Sam Rainsy said Monday it had been reported that Hun Sen was very ill.
“He had a massive stroke. He went to Calmette on Friday and then to Singapore,” he was reported to have said after rumours had circulated on social media.
The army, meanwhile, maintains a close relationship with the ruling party, and in particular the prime minister's so-called special Bodyguard Unit - the exact numbers of which have never been revealed but are said to be loyal solely to the premier.
Hun Sen was himself once a soldier, fighting in the Khmer Rouge before he defected from the regime. His son Hun Manet, 35 - who many say is primed to take his place - has risen quickly in the military ranks to become a major general and head of the counter-terrorism unit.
The prime minister's remarks come just weeks after the military ousted the government in Thailand.
Hun Sen put his public disappearance down to "playing golf," adding that he was in perfect health. He has been in power for 28 years, and has previously said he intends to rule until he’s 90.
In the same multifaceted speech, he also granted the opposition CNRP's request for a TV license - a rarity in a country in which nearly all newspapers and television channels toe the government line.
The opposition immediately dismissed his offer as "too little too late," calling it “bait.”
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