Premier ridicules Rainsy’s lawsuit against Facebook

PRIME Minister Hun Sen yesterday lambasted former opposition leader Sam Rainsy over his lawsuit against social media giant Facebook seeking information about the premier’s account, an act Hun Sen dismissed as “crazy”.

Rainsy is seeking the information from Facebook on the grounds it will aid his legal defence in Cambodia, where he was convicted of defamation for claiming Hun Sen had bought “likes” from so-called “click farms”. The claim followed a Post story revealing that Hun Sen had a disproportionate number of foreign likes from countries like India and the Philippines.

Hun Sen, however, said the suit was motivated by Rainsy having fewer “likes” on the platform. The premier’s Facebook page currently has some 9.4 million likes. “Oh my Buddha,” the premier exclaimed at the suit, saying he did “not know where the likes come from”.

Hun Sen went on to accuse Rainsy of wanting to “break the nation”, tell- ing him to “please apologise to the people because you launched the policy to eliminate Hun Sen”.

Rainsy co-founded the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which came close to beating Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party in 2013. Rainsy was subsequently forced into exile by politically tinged court cases, and out of the party by hasty legal amendments passed by the CPP. The CNRP was forcibly dissolved in November over claims it was fomenting “revolution”, with Rainsy announcing a nonviolent protest “movement” in response.

Despite Rainsy’s sidelining, political analyst Lao Mong Hay said he still loomed large for Hun Sen. “A couple of months ago our PM urged all to ignore Sam Rainsy; that he has changed his mind and has used abusive language to rebuke him indicates that the latter is still a force to reckon with.”

Rainsy did not directly respond to a request for comment yesterday, but in an interview with RFA, said Hun Sen “employs Facebook to mislead”, adding that he had “to defend [his] case”.