Hun Sen claims he tossed his Thai degrees long ago

Former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen posts angrily after being stripped of his honorary doctorate by a Thai university.

Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen recently posted on Facebook claiming he had long discarded his three honorary degrees from Thai universities, stating that they held no value and were not worth keeping. 

He boasted that he had already become Cambodia’s Prime Minister before receiving these degrees, and that the institutions had merely handed them to him.

Hun Sen’s fiery post came in response to an announcement from Bansomdejchaopraya Rajabhat University, which revoked his honorary PhD in Education for Local Development, following a unanimous decision by the university’s council on August 21, 2025.In his post, Hun Sen clarified: “Let me be clear, I have long discarded all three of the degrees from Thai institutions that were given to me years ago. Those certificates have no value to me and are not worth keeping.”

He went on to say, "The first degree I received was in 2001, the second in 2006, and the third in 2019. I take no pride in the paper from your institution at all. My intellect and knowledge did not come from your degrees or universities but from the people of Cambodia and the schools in Cambodia that educated me."

He emphasised further, "Let me make this clear, if you consider the period when you awarded me those degrees (which I never requested) and compare it with the time I served the nation, it’s clear that your certificates had no impact on my success whatsoever."He added, "I received those degrees after I had already achieved key milestones in my life. In 1979, at the age of 27, I was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 1981, at the age of 29, I became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. And in 1985, at the age of 32, I became Prime Minister."

He concluded, "I believe you should feel ashamed when you revisit the evaluation of my qualifications. When you asked me to accept your degrees, I will have my staff release the evaluation results, so you don’t forget. You can’t change the past, and I want to remind you that you were the one who asked me to accept those degrees, along with the formal praise. The decision to accept or reject them was entirely mine, and I’ve never viewed things through a naive lens."

Hun Sen’s recent outburst comes at a time when silent opposition to his leadership is beginning to surface in Cambodia.

(2025/08/23-00:00)