CAMBODIAN Prime Minister Hun Sen is currently the longest-serving Prime Minister in the world, marking 36 years of being in power, and his rule has gained both praises and criticisms.
He posted in Facebook that he was the youngest premier in the world when he was first elected in 1985 and in the past 36 years, Cambodia had experienced countless obstacles but had progressed in all areas.
Hun Sen first became the Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of Kampuchea in 1979 after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, then served as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister from 1981 to 1985.
He first took office as Prime Minister on Jan 14, 1985, at the age of 32, after he was unanimously elected by the National Assembly to succeed Chan Sy, who died in office in Dec 1984.
According to the Khmer Times, Hun Sen said last December that he intended to retire from his premiership at the age 78. He is 68 now.
Kin Phea, director-general of the International Relations Institute at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said Hun Sen's four major achievements include liberating Cambodians from the "killing fields" of the Khmer Rouge regime.
Phea said that Hun Sen had brought back "national prestige" on the international stage and Cambodia had been playing an increasingly important role in regional and international affairs.
"Through these achievements, Samdech well deserves to be recorded by historians as a 'national hero', it's a historical fact," he added.
However, Phea said Hun Sen could be considered an authoritarian leader by some "western glances" for his long premiership.
"Opposition groups, as well as some anti-CPP (Cambodian People's Party) factions and civil society organisations, have used Samdech's long stay in power to attack him and his party," he said.
Hun Sen and his ruling party have been criticised by the West for alleged human rights violations and undermining democracy by suppressing opponents including the dissolution of the main opposition party by the Supreme Court in 2017. The party was led by Sam Rainsy.
Paul Chambers, a lecturer and special advisor for international affairs at Thailand's Naresuan University, said Hun Sen can be cheered for ending the chaos of the 1990s in which a civil war continued to rage, with armed Khmer Rouge soldiers still fighting against the state.
"But it can be criticised because Hun Sen in the last couple of years has brought dependency on China."
The first Cambodian national election was held in May 1993 and it resulted in Funcinpec winning 58 out of 120 National Assembly seats, while the CPP received 51. The rest of the seats went to the Buddhist Liberal Democratic and Molinaka parties.
Despite losing the first election, Hun Sen became "second prime minister" while Prince Norodom Ranariddh was first prime minister.
Prince Ranariddh was ousted from power after fighting between forces loyal to him and Hun Sen in 1997.
Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy currently lives in exile in Paris and frequently criticises the government on many issues. He has been charged in absentia for many offences including for treason.