Hun Sen Fed Up With Money Requests and Daily Messages
Hun Sen, Cambodian Senate president, vented frustration over receiving nearly 20 messages in one day requesting money for homes, motorcycles, and tuition, along with constant disruptive daily contact on social media.
Hun Sen, president of the Cambodian Senate, posted on Facebook with a photo holding his grandchild, venting his frustration and beginning with an ancestral teaching: "If you love someone, don't visit too often; if you miss them, visit occasionally." Today marks one month since his grandchild's birth, a day he should have felt happy, but instead felt upset after receiving nearly 20 messages via Telegram and WhatsApp.
Some people messaged requesting direct meetings, others shared family hardships, but most importantly, many asked for money to buy homes, motorcycles—some requesting two bikes at once—and tuition fees to send children abroad. While some did not ask directly, they said they needed to buy "vehicles," which clearly meant cars since they already had motorcycles. Previously, Hun Sen had helped by providing money for fuel, rent, tuition, and living allowances to poor students in amounts worth only hundreds or thousands of dollars. However, from just four people today, the total requests already reached tens of thousands of dollars for house purchases, car and motorcycle purchases, and tuition fees costing tens of thousands of dollars per year—more expensive than when his own children studied abroad.
Beyond money matters, he received disruptive messages almost daily: when his children left for school in the morning and when they returned in the evening, with both voice and text messages. Hun Sen noted that he and his sons, especially his son the Prime Minister (Hun Manet), contact each other very rarely because he knows his son is extremely busy and he postpones unnecessary matters to resolve later.
He apologized to those requesting direct meetings, explaining he cannot meet them unless he initiates the request, as in the case of Van Sanvan and family about ten days earlier. He warned that he will delete or block anyone contacting him on social media without permission. He reiterated the ancestral teaching: "If you love someone, don't visit too often; if you miss them, visit occasionally," noting that visiting someone's home every day annoys them, as does sending messages every day about non-work matters.
Hun Sen stated he should not have posted this message, but without doing so, such incidents would continue and increase as more people obtained his phone number.
