Prime Minister Hun Manet cited the five-point approach to good governance left by his predecesessor Hun Sen as the reason for the recent dismissal of Kep town governor Kheng Yon.

Manet removed Yon from office on January 12, emphasising that the decision was in line with the final point of the five-point slogan: “Look in the mirror, take a bath, clean the body, get treatment and undergo surgery”.

He discussed the decision during his January 14 meeting with members of the Cambodian community living in Europe.

“I do not think that Cambodia is perfect, and nor is its government or officials. This is why we must take this approach. That is why the government has set out the five steps: look in the mirror, take a bath, clean the body, get treatment, and if necessary, undergo surgery. Before I departed the Kingdom, I signed a notice for the removal of the former governor of Kep town for misconduct and the abuse of power,” he said.

He added that he did not want to reach such a decision, but Yon had been given time to change his behaviour and had not done so. Once his work had been reviewed and it had been determined that he was working against the interests of the public, the prime minister was left with no choice.

“We have to implement this approach because it is our duty to serve the people. We are not perfect, but we must strive to become so. This is our goal and our vision, so we must regularly observe the five steps of the government’s slogan,” explained Manet.

Chey Tech, an independent socio-economic analyst, noted that while this five-point approach was introduced by former Prime Minister Hun Sen, the previous mandate governments did not appear to enforce them as strictly as the current mandate. Under the leadership of Manet, the seventh-mandate government is strictly implementing the fifth step, which is “surgery”.

“This approach has already been strictly implemented at the ministerial level, especially at the Ministry of Interior, which has dismissed, demoted or removed from their posts many police officers who were found to be involved in irregularities while performing their duties, whether related to drugs or the abuse of power and responsibilities,” he said.

“Even several officers who held the rank of lieutenant generals were fired or demoted,” he added.

Addressing a press conference which followed the first session of the 7th National Assembly in August last year, Hun Sen, former prime minister and president of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), announced that in his capacity as party president, he urged all CPP officials to continue to implement the five approaches he had laid out.

“If we abandon this approach, how will we determine where our weaknesses are? If we do not look in the mirror, how will we know where the dirt is? If we are not clean, we must take a bath and clean the body. If we have a disease, we should treat it, but if we cannot treat it, we must surgically remove the cause of the disease,” he said.

He added that this approach cannot be abandoned. Abandoning it would be tantamount to failure and could lead to the collapse of a political party. It was up to the new government to take up this method or not, but he called for all party members to use this approach as widely as possible.