Burmese Dissidents, Activists Unhappy with Hun Sen

Many Burmese are unhappy with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s recent comment comparing ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Hun Sen made the remark during a meeting of the 15th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Summit in Cha-am, Thailand, suggesting that the billionaire businessman who became one of Thailand’s most popular politicians before his ouster in a 2006 coup was—like Suu Kyi—a victim of political persecution.

At the summit meeting, Hun Sen said that Thaksin, who is in self-imposed exile, was welcome to live in Cambodia, and he would not be extradited, if requested by Thailand.

Win Tin, a senior member of the Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, said he was upset over Hun Sen’s comparison.

“There is no reason to compare Thaksin and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” he said.
“As a prime minister, Hun Sen must know that these two persons are different.”

Debbie Stothard, the coordinator of the Alternative Asean Network on Burma, said, “It’s a terrible joke to compare Thaksin Shinawatra to Suu Kyi.”

A Burmese university student at Ramkhamhaeng University in Bangkok, Kyaw Linn Oo, said Hun Sen may have meant that both Thaksin and Suu Kyi were very popular and received widespread political support.

However, he said Suu Kyi has sacrificed for democracy, and she was not comparable to Thaksin, who went into exile after he was convicted of corruption following the coup. Suu Kyi has spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention. While in office, Thaksin was widely criticized for his “War against Drugs,” in which thousands of people died in extra-judicial killings.

Kaung Kin, a Burmese poet and a student in Bangkok, said Hun Sen’s remark was a big mistake.

“Daw Suu [Suu Kyi] is a freedom fighter,” he said. “Thaksin was charged with corruption. Daw Suu is nonviolent. Supporters of Thaksin are violent.”