[1] Ieng Mouly was born on November 2, 1950, in Pearang in the province of Prey Veng to a family of local merchants, growing up during the golden years of the Cambodian Sangkum led by Norodom Sihanouk.
[3] From 1968 to 1970, he worked as an accountant for the national liquor company known as SKD (Société Khmer des Distilleries) before moving on to management control and financial auditor for the Sokilait, a milk factory on the riverfront along Russey Keo Road.
In a power struggle between Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Rannaridh, Ieng did not give a vote of confidence to the government formed in July 1993.
As peace and stability returned to Cambodia, Ieng Mouly went from being a leader of the opposition to being a member of the Cambodian People's Party government, noting that it was not a matter of being opposed to communists any more: "we are all capitalists.
As the head of the National AIDS Authority, he has given more importance to "collaboration with civil society and also with local people at the community level” implementing a community-based HIV testing program which is one of the first of its kind in Asia and the Pacific.
Echoing the words of Augustine of Hippo in the 5th century who famously argued that if prostitution is removed from human affairs, the government will unsettle everything because of lust,[11] Ieng Mouly affirmed that “[the police] should open one eye, and close the other.