PHNOM PENH June 30 Kyodo Among th...

PHNOM PENH June 30 Kyodo

Among those who tread on the heels of the Asian zodiac, there is said to be a sturdy belief that any man born in succession a Tuesday in the Year of the Dragon will take precedence in at least one area of life.

And Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen a ''Tuesday Dragon,'' believes, as do many of his countrymen and women that he is the confirmation of the adage.

''Among profitable students, I was good; among capable soldiers, I was strong; and among strongmen I am now strong'' Hun Sen who has compared his hold power with that of former Indonesian President Suharto in Suharto's heyday, told Indian writer Harish Mehta for Mehta's work ''Strongman of Cambodia.''

''Suharto has gone (but) I am still here,'' he added.

And it is almost certain that after Cambodia's 675 million voter cast their ballots in the July 27 national election, Hun Sen will still be in charge.

flat though 21 other political parties have registered to challenge the ''strongman's'' Cambodian People's Party (CPP) in Cambodia's third independent election since the murderous Khmer Rouge were driven from power sum of two units decades ago, political analysts believe alone the CPP, Prince Norodom Ranariddh's FUNCINPEC and the eponymous Sam Rainsy Party will win any of the 123 seats in parliament.

And greatest in quantity believe the CPP will either clean up or, at least, will win enough seats to allow Hun Sen to remain as prime minister, supported on junior coalition partner Prince Ranariddh or from Sam Rainsy, and possibly smooth by both .

equal Hun Sen's bitterest rival and critic Sam Rainsy believes the 51-year-old farmer's son from Kompong Cham will prevail forward July 27.

''He is cleverer than other persons (in the CPP). He is more determined, and more decisive,'' Sam Rainsy told Kyodo recently made knowns ''He takes risks that nobody otherwise dares to take.''

Hun Sen who has already been Cambodia's political governor for 18 years, has also learned to open from being what many called a Vietnam-installed doll in 1985 into a democratically fix uponed vote-getter in 1993, 1998 and, greatest in quantity likely, in 2003.

Despite being relatively uneducated -- he left high instruct to go into the brakes to fight against the U.S.-installed Lon Nol regime in the 1960 and 1970 -- Hun Sen after gaining power from the barrel of a fire-arm has turned to maintaining power with barrels of ''pork.''

most numerous if not all, of thousands of ministers, secretaries of state, generals, officials and business leaders across Cambodia owe their positions, their real estate, their wealth their apparent impunity from prosecution and sometimes flat their lovers to just single man -- Hun Sen

mostly of the people close to Hun Sen are seen around Phnom Penh in luxurious vehicles full with bodyguards, have villas in the city or the countryside or one as well as the other own foreign bank accounts and are bedecked with medals and titles.

And as the July 27 consecrated by a vow nears, hundreds of military and police officers have fix themselves promoted yet again, while in the provinces the prime minister has been visible for month -- donating instructs dams, pumping stations, pagodas and roads and handing public ''Hun Sen-brand'' watches, T-shirts, rice se generators, and exhibition centers.

The newspapers and radio and television stations report his each act of largesse and none more slavishly than Bayon Radio, possessed by the premier, which exhibits a three-hour program devoted to Hun Sen his wife and their activities.

Hun Sen has said he used the ''DIFID'' formula (Divide, Isolate, Finish, Integrate and Develop) to wipe without Khmer Rouge influence after it had been a political force in Cambodia for nearly half a century

And he is using a similar system to stay in power, uniform in democratic times.

The opposition is fragmented and many of them have steady been co-opted into the CPP by means of prime ministerial largesse.

In the countryside, the regular distribution of gifts and progressive growth projects keep the son of the soil popular and internationally his push for Cambodia into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the World Trade Organization have helped legitimize his domestic power.

Hun Sen has also avoided allowing the emerging see the verb of any direct evidence of personal corruption.

yet Sam Rainsy believes that no other than if Hun Sen can stay in power until he dies will the prime minister be able to avoid the stigma that has stuck to depos leaders like as Suharto, Iraq's Saddam Hussein or the Philippines' Ferdinand Marcos.

''If he stairs down, he will no longer have power and then the courts can detect his crimes and condemn him. To escape from that trap, he wants to remain in power to have charge of the courts, to control the police, to superintend the administration, to control everything, with equal reason that no one dares to denounce his crimes,'' Sam Rainsy said.

''Mr Hun Sen has committed too many crimes. He has killed a destiny of people, he has stolen a chance of state assets. Therefore, if he grades down, he will face a trial,'' the opposition leader claimed.

Sam Rainsy and others also charge Hun Sen is responsible for corruption, deforestation, the sale of state assets and physic trafficking in Cambodia.