False Claims Say PM Hun Sen Urgently Admitted to Hospital
As Cambodia is approaching the new general election in July this year, claims related to Prime Minister Hun Sen’s health condition have surfaced on social media in recent weeks. One of them said the premier was seriously ill and urgently admitted to a hospital. The claims had been widely shared and commented on by Khmer-speaking social media users. However, after getting clarification from an official and reviewing the recent public presence of PM Hun Sen, we prove that the claims are false.
SOCIAL MEDIA CLAIM
Since Wednesday last week, several social media posts have claimed about the health conditions of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen after he did not appear in public forums.
One of the social media claims said the premier was urgently admitted to ICU of a hospital in Singapore.
Below is the capture of the social media claim on June 21: “Hun Sen is in ICU in a hospital in Singapore without giving the acting position to Sar Kheng.”
Another social media claim circulated by an opposition activist living abroad implied that PM Hun Sen was admitted to a hospital in Singapore.
See the capture of the social media claim on June 23 saying: “Clear Now: Samdech [PM Hun Sen] went to the grand opening of a hospital in Singapore.”
Another opposition activist who lives abroad also posted a claim saying PM Hun Sen visited a hospital in Singapore.
Below is the capture of the claim circulated on social media on June 22 saying: “Just got news saying that Hun Sen went to visit a hospital in Singapore?”
Some days later, another social media user circulated another claim saying that Premier Hun Sen was seriously ill and admitted to a hospital in Cambodia to get medical care treated by medical doctors from Singapore.
FACT CHECK
Fact Crescendo Cambodia began checking the claims by interviewing an assistant to PM Hun Sen and reviewing the premier's recent activities and public presence. Then, we found the facts below.
PM Hun Sen did not appear in public from 21 until 23 June after he presided over the 46th commemorate of the road to overthrowing the Khmer Rouge – a ceremony commemorating PM Hun Sen’s beginning path to take down the killing field.
Below is the video of PM Hun Sen in the ceremony which was live on his official Facebook page.
Responding to an inquiry from Fact Crescendo last Saturday, Seng Teang who is an assistant to PM Hun Sen just referred to a video of the premier visiting nearly 20,000 garment workers in the morning.
A video lived on his official Facebook page shows PM Hun Sen walking, shaking hands with garment workers, and allowing them to take photos.
Like previous public forums, the video also shows PM Hun Sen spoked nearly one hour before the garment workers gathering at the Morodok Techo National Stadium located in the Chroy Changvar district.
On Sunday morning, his official social media channel lived another public forum showing PM Hun Sen visiting garment workers from MANHATTAN Industrial Estate located in Bavet City, Svayrieng province.
On Monday this week, PM Hun Sen presided over the grand opening of new buildings of the Justice Ministry. The ceremony was also lived on his official Facebook page.
CONCLUSION
Fact Crescendo Cambodia the claims mentioned above are false. Prime Minister Hun Sen was not admitted to ICU in a hospital in Singapore nor seriously ill either. He has appeared in public forums visiting garment workers in different locations since last Saturday.
