Thy Sovantha: Cambodian influencer, ‘spy’ - and latest victim of border tensions
A top Cambodian social media influencer has paid the penalty for voicing criticism of a military already accused of indiscriminate and unprovoked attacks on Thai territory during the recent border flare-up.
Thy Sovantha was stripped of her government and party posts on the orders of strongman Hun Sen after she posted “inappropriate messages” about soldiers’ health problems.
“It is evident that most of our frontline soldiers suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes, stomach ulcers, liver and kidney disease. The main cause is alcohol consumption," she stated in a recent Facebook post.
Soon after, she was removed as deputy governor of Arey Ksat town in Kandal province – a post she had held since April 2023, according to local reports on August 3.
Hun Sen later confirmed he had ordered her dismissal from all state positions and the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), acting in his capacity as president of the CPP and the Senate.
Sovantha humbly accepted the punishment and admitted her “mistake”, declaring on Facebook that it was “a reminder for others to be disciplined and obey the law”.
Visitors to her Facebook account, which boasts 2.4 million followers, are greeted by a photo of Sovantha beaming beside Hun Sen.
Starting at a young age
Sovantha, 30, is an influential activist known for courting controversy. She burst onto the political stage as an 18-year-old high school student supporting the opposition, before shifting to the government side a few years later.
During her school days, she built a strong following among Cambodian youths attracted by her good looks, charisma and firebrand political rhetoric.
She first grabbed the limelight in 2013, declaring support for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), co-led by the now-exiled Sam Rainsy. She also hurled criticism at then-prime minister Hun Sen, calling for national reform after three decades of CPP rule.
“Over 30 years of Hun Sen’s leadership has resulted in scant development but mass failures regarding deforestation, social injustice, nepotism and impunity,” she was quoted as saying in March 2014.
However, Sovantha’s loyalty to the opposition was questioned amid claims she was acting as a government spy. The young activist denied the allegations, insisting she was being “judged without evidence”.
“I state that I reject Hun Sen, but they [her accusers] still don’t believe me,” she told the Phnom Penh Post in 2014. “They accuse me of being a spy … Whatever their doubts, I know my actions are for the good of our country.”
Claims of spying and bribery
In 2016, Sam Rainsy accused Hun Sen of bribing Sovantha with US$1 million to defect from the opposition and back the ruling party ahead of Cambodia’s 2018 general election. He made the claim after she began attacking the opposition through social media. Both Hun Sen and Sovantha denied the accusation.
However, the exiled opposition leader offered evidence to back his claim, producing hundreds of “leaked secret messages” between Sovantha and Hun Sen. Sovantha retorted that Rainsy’s “repeated false accusation” reflected his “limited political knowledge, and lack of wisdom and creativity to continue his political career.”
In early 2017, Hun Sen sued the opposition leader for $1 million, accusing him of defamation. Rainsy, who fled to France to escape arrest, said the damages sought by Hun Sen were “just a cynical attempt to match the sum he actually did pay to Thy Sovantha”.
In November 2017, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court ruled in Hun Sen’s favour, ordering the seizure and auction of Sam Rainsy’s house and party headquarters to cover legal costs estimated at $2 million.
Later that year, Cambodia’s Supreme Court dissolved the CNRP for plotting to topple the government – charges that the main opposition party dismissed as politically motivated. Hundreds of CNRP members and supporters were then arrested – many of them sentenced to prison.
The purge cleared the way for the ruling CPP to win every seat at the mid-2018 elections.
Blaming naiveness for ‘mistakes’
Sovantha was born on April 11, 1995, to a family of merchants in Phnom Penh. She failed Grade 12 exams twice but was still granted a license to operate a university in 2016, according to the Phnom Penh Post. Her Facebook account says she studied at the International University in Phnom Penh.
The young activist transformed from a radical revolutionary into one of the Cambodian government’s sharpest political weapons. Amid allegations of spying and betrayal, she was branded a turncoat after switching political sides.
Critics also questioned how she had earned the money to buy a villa and new Lexus while also funding her non-governmental organisation.
In 2018, a 23-year-old Sovantha admitted that she had made errors as a naïve young activist. “We wanted to change. We wanted to change leaders. We wanted to change the country. But at that time, I didn’t understand,” she told Channel News Asia in a July 2018 interview.
“I am very proud of being a youth who criticised the government. I made mistakes. But the government understood my mind and my heart and gave me a chance to participate in developing society. Now, I still want change but I understand the way [to achieve it].”