The Man Of All Islands

Honesty - Display sincerity, integrity, and candor in all your actions. Deceptive behavior will not inspire trust.

Competent - Your actions should be based on reason and moral principles. Do not make decisions based on childlike emotional desires or feelings.

Forward-looking - Set goals and have a vision of the future. The vision must be owned throughout the organization. Effective leaders envision what they want and how to get it. They habitually pick priorities stemming from their basic values.

Inspiring - Display confidence in all that you do. By showing endurance in mental, physical, and spiritual stamina, you will inspire others to reach for new heights. Take charge when necessary.
Intelligent - Read, study, and seek challenging assignments.

Fair-minded - Show fair treatment to all people. Prejudice is the enemy of justice. Display empathy by being sensitive to the feelings, values, interests, and well-being of others.

Broad-minded - Seek out diversity.

Courageous - Have the perseverance to accomplish a goal, regardless of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Display a confident calmness when under stress.

Straightforward - Use sound judgment to make a good decisions at the right time.

Imaginative - Make timely and appropriate changes in your thinking, plans, and methods. Show creativity by thinking of new and better goals, ideas, and solutions to problems. Be innovative!

Pol Pot was born Saloth Sar on 19 May 1925 in Kompong Thong province in central Cambodia. The country was then a French protectorate and Pol Pot, whose family were relatively prosperous, was educated in a series of French-speaking schools. In 1949, he won a scholarship to study in Paris where he became involved in communist politics.

He returned to Cambodia in 1953 and became one of the leaders of an underground communist movement, the ‘Khmer Rouge’. In 1963, the Khmer Rouge set up guerrilla bases in remote regions of the country to fight the government of Prince Sihanouk. In 1970, Sihanouk was overthrown by General Lon Nol. Civil war broke out between Lon Nol’s army and the Khmer Rouge.

In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge captured the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. Led by Pol Pot, they reset the calendar to ‘Year Zero’ and attempted to transform Cambodia into their vision of a communist, rural society. All inhabitants of Cambodian cities and towns were expelled to work in agricultural communes. Money, private property and religion were abolished. Thousands were murdered in special detention centres and thousands more died from starvation and overwork.

After raids by the Khmer Rouge across their border, the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia and in 1979 overthrew the Khmer Rouge regime. Pol Pot fled to the border region with Thailand from where he fought against the Vietnamese-backed government in Phnom Penh. The Khmer Rouge continued to receive support from abroad because of their opposition to the communist regime in Vietnam.

In 1997, after a power struggle within the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot was arrested by former colleagues and sentenced to life under house arrest. He died on 15 April 1998.