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Cambodia strongman delights as orangutans dance and kickbox
PHNOM PENH, June 23, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Cambodia’s strongman leader Hun Sen
took a brief break from electioneering on Saturday to watch orangutans roller
skate, kickbox and dance provocatively as he opened the first major zoo in
the capital.
The premier — one of the world’s longest serving leaders — is seeking to
prolong his 33-year grip on power in the national vote set for July 29 and
has used the courts to cripple his opponents.
But he has also tried to cultivate a lighter side.
“Today we are all happy to inaugurate the animal zoo, the Phnom Penh
Safari,” Hun Sen said in a speech to thousands at the park before a ribbon-
cutting ceremony, adding that the site of the sprawling complex was a former
ammunition depot for remnants of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.
The $9 million safari will house 89 types of animals, including bears,
ostriches, kangaroos, giraffes, tigers and deer.
The zoo is run by a company owned by tycoon Ly Yong Phat, a senator from
the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
After the official unveiling Hun Sen took a tour of the grounds and sat
down to watch the orangutang show, a common form of entertainment at
Southeast Asian zoos that animal rights activists have long been critical of.
The 65-year-old strongman smiled as the apes performed a variety of
slapstick routines, including gyrating to music.
In the kickboxing event they drubbed one another over the head and
delivered a series of punches, knees and kicks, while a presenter narrated
the fight.
Aferwards Hun Sen congratulated one of the fighters by holding up the
orangutang’s arm as bodyguards loomed nearby.
The day was not entirely devoid of politics as Hun Sen used his opening
remarks to ask people to vote for his party.
Yet Hun Sen will face little competition at the polls.
The country’s main opposition party was dissolved under a court order last
year as part of the sweeping crackdown of dissent, and western democracies
have withdrawn support for the vote.
Former opposition lawmakers — mostly those who fled the country in the
wake of the crackdown — have also urged voters to boycott July’s poll in
protest.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1446 hrs