Teng Bunma

Teng Bunma was of Chinese Cambodian descent.{{cite news|title=Teng Boonma: The man with the money|url=http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/teng-boonma-man-money|accessdate=11 September 2016|work=The Phnom Penh Post|date=1996-05-17}}

Teng Bunma was one of the first Cambodian businesspeople to invest significantly in Cambodia after the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979. Having spent much of his life in Thailand, like many of Cambodia’s early tycoons he began cutting informal deals with the country’s government in the 1980s, before the economy had officially opened.{{Cite web |title=The 'Respectable' Faces that Help Cambodia's Elite Loot the Country |url=https://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/hunsen-family/analysis.html |access-date=2022-03-02 |website=www.rfa.org |language=en}}

In the early 1990s, Teng Bunma bankrolled key battles in the continued war against the Khmer Rouge.{{Cite book |last=Hughes |first=Caroline |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/880307464 |title=Cambodia's economic transformation |date=2011 |publisher=Nias Press |isbn=978-87-7694-083-6 |pages=6 |oclc=880307464}} However, Sam Rainsy began accusing Teng Bunma of gold smuggling and customs fraud, and placed him at the center of a wide circle of drug traffickers. In October 1994, this led to a showdown between the two over a Phnom Penh market development that had dispossessed local vendors. Thereafter, Sam Rainsy was dumped from the Cabinet, kicked out of the Funcinpec, and stripped from his seat in Parliament in June 1995.{{Cite book |last=Strangio |first=Sebastian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s-2uBAAAQBAJ&dq=teng+bunma&pg=PA69 |title=Hun Sen's Cambodia |date=2014-11-28 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-21014-9|page=69|language=en}}

Teng Bunma is a key example of how the emergence of free market policies in the late 1980s and the rapid privatization of common resources and state assets, legalised the businesses of former traffickers and helped them set up companies which dominate the Cambodian private sector today.{{Citation |last=Hughes |first=C. |title=Good governance reform in Cambodia |date=2010 |url=https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/39752/ |work=The elephant in the room: politics and the development problem. |pages=69–94 |publisher=Asia Research Centre Policy Monograph |access-date=2022-03-02}} In order to bring an end to the ongoing civil war, he bankrolled any groups that were ready to fight against the last Khmer rouge warriors and in return he was awarded state contracts and licences to monopolise particular types of imports. Thus, with his Cambodian business partner Sok Kong, chairman of Sokimex, he helped to fund the recapture of Pailin from the Khmer Rouge in 1994, where he later opened his own casino.{{Cite book |last1=Carroll |first1=Toby |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B1TUDwAAQBAJ&dq=teng+bunma&pg=PA115 |title=The Political Economy of Southeast Asia: Politics and Uneven Development under Hyperglobalisation |last2=Hameiri |first2=Shahar |last3=Jones |first3=Lee |date=2020-03-03 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3-030-28255-4 |page=115 |language=en}}

In late 1995, Teng Bunma was elected as the first president of the Cambodian Chamber of Commerce.

Teng Bunma invested heavily in the private sector, especially in real estate, but also supported the development of public infrastructure, such as the construction of “Hun Sen Park” in Phnom Penh in 1996.

{{Main|1997 Cambodian coup d'état}}

Rather than choose a side, Teng Bunma was notorious for supporting a plurality of political actors in Cambodia from party officials to royalist party rebels, while others accused him of suppressing the voices critical of the Cambodian People's Party;{{Cite book |last=Hughes |first=Caroline |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56909276 |title=The political economy of Cambodia's transition, 1991-2001 |date=2003 |publisher=RoutledgeCurzon |isbn=0-203-22175-3 |location=London |oclc=56909276}} in 1994, he gave the government an interest-free loan to help make up a budget shortfall. He also donated a bullet-proof Mercedes limousine to Hun Sen, and a $1.8 million aircraft to Norodom Ranariddh, the joint prime minister between 1993 and 1997. It has also been alleged that Teng Bunma was also a financier of a band of politicians who launched a failed coup against Hun Sen in 1994, and was thought to have been close to Hun Sen’s rivals within the Cambodian People's Party, Interior Minister Sar Kheng and National Assembly-chair Chea Sim.

Teng Bunma, then Cambodia's wealthiest businessman, traveled to Beijing on a special mission shortly before the coup of the 1997 coup d'état led by Hun Sen.{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Craig S. |date=1997-07-17 |title=Cambodia Coup Highlights China's New Clout in Region |language=en-US |work=Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB869073215119851500 |access-date=2022-03-12 |issn=0099-9660}} Teng Bunma later boasted during a press conference{{Cite book |last1=Cousens |first1=Elizabeth M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aCi7CQFQ2xsC&dq=teng+bunma&pg=PA111 |title=Peacebuilding as Politics: Cultivating Peace in Fragile Societies |last2=Kumar |first2=Chetan |last3=Chetan |first3=Kumar |last4=Wermester |first4=Karin |date=2001 |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers |isbn=978-1-55587-946-4 |page=30|language=en}} of funding Hun Sen’s coup in 1997, providing also material help by lending his own fleet of helicopters to transfer troops to Western Cambodia.{{Cite web |last=Hutt |first=David |date=2021-05-25 |title=Hun Sen tackles Cambodia's once untouchable tycoons |url=https://asiatimes.com/2021/05/hun-sen-tackles-cambodias-once-untouchable-tycoons/ |access-date=2022-03-02 |website=Asia Times |language=en-US}} Hun Sen acknowledged that without the financial support of Teng Bunma, his coup would have failed.{{Cite book |last=Karbaum |first=Markus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J7PdqIS2ypEC&dq=teng+bunma&pg=PA216 |title=Kambodscha unter Hun Sen: informelle Institutionen, politische Kultur und Herrschaftslegitimität |date=2008 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-8258-1645-2 |page=216 |language=de}} In October 1997, Teng Bunma received a timber concession of one million acres from the Cambodian government.{{Cite book |last1=Cousens |first1=Elizabeth M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aCi7CQFQ2xsC&dq=teng+bunma&pg=PA111 |title=Peacebuilding as Politics: Cultivating Peace in Fragile Societies |last2=Kumar |first2=Chetan |last3=Chetan |first3=Kumar |last4=Wermester |first4=Karin |date=2001 |publisher=Lynne Rienner Publishers |isbn=978-1-55587-946-4 |page=111|language=en}}

In June 1998, Thailand issued an arrest warrant against Teng Bunma on fraud charges. Police determinations took place also in Hong Kong in 1999: there Bunma had submitted a falsified passport for the registration of its enterprise "to Thai Boon Roong". A 1996 article ("Medellin on the Mekong") in the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review, by United States journalist Nate Thayer, described Teng Bunma as a significant figure in Cambodia's international drug-smuggling trade.{{cite journal|last1=Thayer|first1=Nate|title=Cambodia: Asia's New Narco-State? Medellin on the Mekong|journal=Far Eastern Economic Review|date=1995-11-23|url=http://www.nate-thayer.com/cambodia-asias-new-narco-state-medellin-on-the-mekong/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429233112/http://www.nate-thayer.com/cambodia-asias-new-narco-state-medellin-on-the-mekong/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=April 29, 2016}}

In 1996, he was named in the United States campaign finance controversy during which the Chinese allegedly attempted to influence domestic American politics prior to and during the Clinton administration. Though he was blocked from entering the United States,{{Cite book |last= United States Congress House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XT7_xMCH4KkC&dq=teng+bunma&pg=PA2147 |title=Investigation of Political Fundraising Improprieties and Possible Violations of Law: Interim Report : Sixth Report |date=1998 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=2147 |language=en}} Teng Bunma received a US visa in 1998.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kgq0AAAAIAAJ&q=teng+bunma |title=Far Eastern Economic Review |date=1998 |publisher=Review Publishing Company Limited |page=13|language=en}}

In 1999, King Norodom Sihanouk publicly refused a luxury car that Teng Bunma had offered him, on the grounds that he was being investigated by the United States of America.{{Cite web |date=1999-08-19 |title=Les indiscrets - Monde |url=https://www.lexpress.fr/informations/les-indiscrets-monde_634601.html |access-date=2022-03-02 |website=LExpress.fr |language=fr}} However, Hun Sen himself intervened to award diplomatic immunity to Teng Bunma for falsifying immigration documents, which was considered abusing ambassadorial powers to evade the law by some human rights group.{{Cite web |title=Diplomatic immunity: You're spoiling us, Mr. Ambassador! |url=https://www.globalwitness.org/en/blog/youre-spoiling-us-mr-ambassador/ |access-date=2022-03-02 |website=Global Witness |language=en}}

At the beginning of the third millennium, Teng Bunma had become "one of the most powerful men in Cambodia",{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2o4NAQAAMAAJ&q=teng+bunma |title=Stanford Journal of International Law |date=2000 |publisher=Stanford University, School of Law |page=132 |language=en}} "Cambodia's best-known and wealthiest businessman with total assets estimated at around $400 million."{{Cite book |last=Funston |first=N. John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cjb9Qhbbv9sC&dq=teng+bunma&pg=PA60 |title=Government and Politics in Southeast Asia |date=2001 |publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |isbn=978-981-230-133-8 |page=60 |language=en}} At that time, he began investing in major construction projects worth more 50 millions dollars{{Cite book |last1=Faure |first1=Guy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4WAQAAMAAJ&q=teng+bunma |title=La présence économique européenne en Asie du Sud-Est |last2=Hoyrup |first2=David |date=2007 |publisher=Indes savantes |isbn=978-2-84654-177-0 |page=198 |language=fr}} and to diversify his portfolio with a wider range of activities, such as growing cotton.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XjG0AAAAIAAJ&q=teng+bunma |title=Country Report: Cambodia, Laos |date=2000 |publisher=Economist Intelligence Unit |page=21 |language=en}} He took an important role of leadership in the business community to the point of becoming a "kingmaker".{{Cite book |last=Gottesman |first=Evan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FYxuAAAAMAAJ&q=teng+bunma |title=Cambodia After the Khmer Rouge: Inside the Politics of Nation Building |date=2004 |publisher=Silkworm Books |isbn=978-974-9575-52-9 |page=357 |language=en}} In 2000, Guo Dongpo, who was the director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office office in Beijing, met Teng Bunma to ask for his assistance in controlling unruly mainland gang activity in the Cambodia,{{Cite book |last=To |first=James Jiann Hua |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KGe7AwAAQBAJ&dq=teng+bunma&pg=PA260 |title=Qiaowu: Extra-Territorial Policies for the Overseas Chinese |date=2014-05-15 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-27228-6 |page=260 |language=en}} as the latter had become "legendary" among the Chinese Khmer community.{{Cite book |last=吳志偉 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uKfSDwAAQBAJ&dq=teng+bunma&pg=PT105 |title=幸福在路上：一個旅人的泰柬越行攝筆記 |date=2013-01-01 |publisher=輕工業出版社 |isbn=978-7-5019-8929-4 |language=zh}}

Teng Bunma passed away at the age of 75 on June 17, 2016 at 12.45pm in a hospital in Phnom Penh by natural causes,{{Cite web |title=Oknha Teng Bunma of Thai Boon Roong Group Passes Away |url=http://en.freshnewsasia.com/index.php/en/1308-oknha-teng-bunma-of-thai-boon-roong-group-passes-away.html |access-date=2022-03-02 |website=FRESH NEWS |language=en-gb}} leaving the 133 story Thai Boon Roong Twin Tower World Trade Center in Phnom Penh, located next to Nagaworld, unfinished.

Teng Bunma left being him one of the largest real estate empires in Cambodia. He owned the luxury Intercontinental hotel in Phnom Penh{{cite news|title=Teng Boonma's achievements noted by a handful|url=http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-property/teng-boonmas-achievements-noted-handful-0|accessdate=11 September 2016|work=The Phnom Penh Post|date=2016-06-23}} and Rasmei Kampuchea, the country's most influential newspaper. His son's company, in partnership with foreign investors, owns the Caesar international casino in Pailin, a mining town in western Cambodia.{{cite news|title=Pailin casino ready to roll|url=http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pailin-casino-ready-roll|accessdate=12 September 2016|work=The Phnom Penh Post|date=1998-07-17}}

Teng Bunma was elected as the first president of Cambodia's Chamber of Commerce in 1995, a useful position for networking in a country where wealth is concentrated in the hands of a small group of closely connected politicians, military officials and businessmen.{{cite news|title=Teng Boonma elected president of Chamber of Commerce|url=http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/teng-boonma-elected-president-chamber-commerce|accessdate=11 September 2016|work=The Phnom Penh Post|agency=Reuters|date=1995-10-20}}

{{main|Oknha}}

In a 2015 paper, Teng Bunma was described as the prototype of the new Khmer oknha by Michiel Verver and Heidi Schnetzinger who explained the “elite pact” between the business and political elites through the oknha system of Cambodia.{{Cite journal |last1=Verver |first1=Michiel |last2=Schnetzinger |first2=Heidi |date=2015 |title=The Institutionalisation of Oknha: Cambodian Entrepreneurship at the Interface of Business and Politics |url=https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/handle/10072/65048 |journal=Journal of Contemporary Asia |language=English |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=48–70 |doi=10.1080/00472336.2014.891147|s2cid=143296208 |url-access=subscription }}

Teng Bunma has been described as a "trigger-happy tycoon" following incidents where he used or brandished hand guns. In the first incident he shot out a $3000 tire of an airplane on the tarmac after complaining that he was frustrated with the airline's service. "I lost my temper and control and had to shoot one of the plane's tires. I wanted to shoot more of them, to make sure that all were flat, but there were a lot of passengers surrounding the plane.".{{cite news|title=Gunslinger tycoons|url=http://www.phnompenhpost.com/7days/gunslinger-tycoons|accessdate=12 September 2016|work=The Phnom Penh Post|date=2012-10-12}} In the second incident he brandished a gun inside an airplane and demanded the crew delay takeoff until his late friends arrived.{{cite news|title=Cambodian tycoon pulls pistol to delay airliner takeoff for friends|url=https://apnews.com/90df9de314b249e886ff96d26f0675c3|work=Associated Press News|date=1997-07-30}}

Teng Bunma received an honorary degree from Iowa Wesleyan University at the request of his business partner, Ted Sioeng.{{Cite news |last=Gilley |first=Bruce |date=1998-01-13 |title=A Democratic Donor's Cambodian Connection |language=en-US |work=Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB884647925460985000 |access-date=2022-03-12 |issn=0099-9660}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Business in Cambodia}}

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Category:Cambodian people of Chinese descent

Category:Cambodian people of Thai descent

Category:Cambodian drug traffickers

Category:1941 births

Category:2016 deaths

Category:Oknha