PHNOM PENH: Prime Minister Hun Sen has announced the dissolution of Sam Rainsy's “extremist” ideology, which he described as being the policy of “three generations of traitors.”

Speaking at the graduation ceremony for students of the National University of Management on Monday morning, 17 October, Prime Minister Hun Sen responded to a statement made by Sam Rainsy calling on the Cambodian people and the Armed Forces to make change in Cambodia in 2023. The Prime Minister said that Sam Rainsy’s statement was made with a malicious intent to destroy peace, stability and the 2023 democratic elections in Cambodia.

At the same time, next year also marks the 20th anniversary of Sam Rainsy declaring that “if Sy (Rainsy) stays, (Hun) Sen must go, and if Sen stays, Sy must go,” hence, the Prime Minister announced that he will be abolishing the ideology pushed by Sam Rainsy from now on.

“I will completely change and eliminate the extremist political ideology of the three generations of traitors," said the Prime Minister. "You came to talk about the Hun [family], but the Hun family are not the same! The Hun family never knows how to betray [the country]! Hun clans have contributed to the country's development. It's Sam's (Rainsy’s) family that is a betrayal, from grandfather to father to son."

Born in 1949, Sam Rainsy is the son of Sam Sary and the grandson of Sam Nhean. Sam Rainsy's father, Sam Sary, was considered a major traitor to Cambodia by King Norodom Sihanouk's Sangkum Reastr Niyum government, after the Bangkok Plot against the then Prince Norodom Sihanouk was leaked, revealing Sam Sary’s intension to overthrow the Sangkum Reastr Niyum government. In January 1959, the government of Prince Norodom Sihanouk issued an arrest warrant for Sam Sary and his party, however he escaped and then later disappeared.

According to Prime Minister Hun Sen's announcement, Sam Rainsy's political ideology will become the second to be abolished in Cambodia since the dissolution of the Khmer Rouge ideology in the 1990s.