52 and holding

[Mercer Boy]

My friend sent me this one...must be nice.

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Rather than facing the trauma of turning a year older, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen has marked his birthday by declaring himself a year and four months younger.

The premier told an audience attending a school building opening that according to official documents he should have turned 53 on Sunday, the Cambodia Daily reported Monday.

"It is not my real birthday, April 4, 1951... My true birthday was August 5, 1952," he was quoted as saying, adding that he had forgotten his real birth date and misreported it when he became a soldier in 1970.

Southeast Asia's longest serving leader reportedly said he never celebrated his or his family's birthdays to "save money and time".

Hun Sen is not the only one with such a problem in Cambodia, where the civil registry is in disarray after nearly three decades of conflict and lists just five percent of all Cambodians.

A campaign to list the kingdom's population of more than 12 million people on the registry was launched last month.

[MCG321]

Oh, you know those Cambodian Prime Ministers...