Leadership
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Responding Letter from Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada
Seng Sophoan and Co-signatories
Dear Seng Sophoan and Co-signatories:
Thank you for your correspondence of August 16, 2013, expressing your concerns regarding the elections in the Kingdom of Cambodia. I regret the delay in replying to you.
The Government of Canada closely followed events in Cambodia. Canada encourages all sides to seek a peaceful and transparent resolution to the disputes pertaining to the election results.
The Government of Canada has been involved in several projects in Cambodia, including programs aimed at developing democratic institutions by improving the capacity of the National Assembly, the Senate and electoral institutions.
Canada will continue to encourage democracy and the rule of law in Cambodia. Canadian officials will continue to monitor developments in Cambodia and raise specific concerns with Cambodian authorities.
Thank you for taking the time to write and share your concerns.
Sincerely,
John Baird, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Characteristics of Trustworthy Political Leaders
Characteristics of Trustworthy Political Leaders
1)- Is fair and objective.
2)- Is moving above himself and serving the society.
3)- Is not seeking fame and attention.
4)- Is not into hiding the truth for the sake of looking good.
5)- Is focused on specific, achievable, and measurable goals and demands outcomes.
6)- Encourages people to be accountable for their actions.
7)- Does not pay attention to being politically correct but ethically so.
8)- Does not make idealistic promises but realistic ones.
9)- Is honest even if it does not get approval.
10)- Thinks globally and acts locally.
11)- Takes personal responsibility.
12)- Remains level headed and has a sense of humor.
13)- Has a curious mind.
14)- Does not make himself look good by assaulting others.
A good leader is a self actualized leader. Self actualization is the highest form of human growth, someone who is self actualized is a fully functioning human being. In the past, I have written extensively about the characteristics of self actualized people which can be applied to this article, as well. But the characteristics below are unwaveringly related to a good leader. It is worth to pay attention to these and take them into consideration when we’re making a choice as to whom we chose as a leader. A good leader:
- Is fair and objective. A good political leader does not take what is similar to his views as facts and base his decisions on that. He uses reliable and unfiltered information to make judgments and to come up with resolutions. In other words, he stands above his own believes to observe events objectively while the general public fails to do so. In addition, he does not suffer from a self serving bias.
- Is moving above himself and serving the society. A good leader stands above any specific religious or political views of his own and is independent of any attachment to a specific agenda. His personal beliefs become his private matters and he learns to leave them out the door once he steps into a leadership role. In other words, his belief expands so that it includes everyone’s beliefs.
- Is not seeking fame and attention: A good leader has been able to move above and beyond any egoistic and primitive need for power, attention, or establishing his personal agendas and works with the intention of good-for-all.
- Is not into hiding the truth for the sake of looking good. A good leader says it as it is even if it feels uncomfortable for many to hear it. He is not a people pleaser in a sense that he would say anything to please others even if that means manipulating or misguiding the public. It takes a lot of courage to do this and a good leader has that courage.
- Is focused on specific, achievable, and measurable goals and demands outcomes. A good leader is focused and does not get distracted. His goals, whether small or large, are reasonable and achievable and are directed towards the long term results not quick and temporary fixes that may backfire.
- Encourages people to be accountable for their actions. A good leader helps people understand that they are accountable for their society and its outcome and teaches them to make compromises and responsible choices. He does not support a sense of self-serving entitlement that has gone too far and is counter-productive for the society as a whole.
- Does not pay attention to being politically correct but ethically so. A good leader understands that in order for the whole society to be a functional and healthy one, some adjustments need to be made and people need to learn to give some in order to gain some.
- Does not make idealistic promises but realistic ones. A good leader makes a sustainable promise and is a man of his words.
- Is honest even if it does not get approval. People know where they are standing with an authentic leader. He does not hide bad news just because it is uncomfortable to the public’s ear.
- Thinks globally and acts locally. He realizes that in order for us to live in prosperity as a powerful and blessed country, reasonable steps need to be taken to make sure others achieve the same goals. He is aware that with power comes responsibility and that now more than ever, through technology, we are becoming more and more inner related, globally.
- Takes personal responsibility. A good leader is secure enough with himself to take personal responsibility when one is needed. In other words, a good political leader has an internal locus of control while he is aware of the effects of the external forces.
- Remains level headed and has a sense of humor. A good political leader has a healthy emotional IQ and has learned to move above his emotions, conditionings, and his fixations to specific outcomes to think logically and globally. In other words, he is rational and in control of his emotions and when the public is going through the emotional roller coaster, he is there to guide them through it.
- Has a curious mind. A good leader is thirsty for factual, expert oriented and unbiased knowledge all the time and on all levels.
- Does not make himself look good by assaulting others. A leader that can be trusted does not take others down for himself to go up. He is more of a collaborator than a competitor. He tries to build bridges rather than destroy them. He is a natural mediator rather than one that creates conflict, tension, and separation.
King Jayavarman II is a great Khmer leader in 802
One of the greatest political leaders in Cambodia history is King Jayavarman II (802-835). Archaeology scholars agreed that King Jayavarman II was abducted by Java or Sailendra Kingdom (present Indonesia+Malaysia) during their occupation in Cambodia. During that time, the weakness was caused by the dividing of lower Chenla and upper Chenla, and during this conflict, Sailenda King probably attacked, controlled and evacuated all Cambodian monarchy clans to their country. However, when he grew up, King Jayavarman II is believed to sneak into his motherland to lead a struggle to claim back this territory, re-build infrastructure and establish political institution.
INDEPENDENCE
While the Kingdom was in crisis, King Jayavarman II was not only challenging with the foreign occupation, Sailendra, but his majesty also faced with many dividing fractions throughout the Kingdom. There were many echelons falsified their kingship or claimed to be supreme leaders in different locations. Seeing this, the young prince whose kingship is inherited from previous dynasties anchored his leadership in Indrapura. George Coedes wrote that Indrapura is present Thbong Khmum of Kompong Cham (or Thbong Khmum province as single party parliament of Cambodia recently ratified it). In that place, there were many clergies and Brahmans recognized his kingship and his leadership crusading for independence and national unity.
King Jayavarman II is considered the first prince who set up journey throughout Cambodia to propagate his leadership of unity and independence (great Chinese leader Mao was also making the longest trip throughout China to call for unification for the complete establishment of communism).
Sdok Kok Thom inscription that provides detail on the leadership of the King Jayavarman II and the lineages of all Khmer 
Kings during pre-Angkorean and Angkorean period, described that King Jayavarman II, under the scholarship advisory of Sivakaivalya, departed from Indrapura with his family members, army and educators to head towards Tonle Sab Lake, with the intention of advocating for national solidarity, site searching for strategic areas to build capital city and to universally proclaim suzerainty from Java. Then, his majesty stopped by at Bhavapura; he established Hariharalaya, Amarendrapura and Mahendraparvata or Phnom Kulen eventually.
At Phnom Kulen, Rong Chen temple as evidence, the King proclaimed sovereignty independence from Java completely with the installation of independent symbol of Siva Linga named “Devaraja” or “God-King” or “Maharaja” or “Chakravatin” or “Universal Monarch”.
ESTABLISHING EFFECTIVE POLITICAL INSTITUTION
Part of socio-political policy, the King created the effective political institution named “Devaraja”. This style of political leadership was part of the effort to combine between Khmer leadership with the Indian cult of governance. Sivakaivalya who was comprehensive in value, norm, attitude and behavior of Cambodian people invited Indian Brahman named Hiranyadhamma to conduct a ritual according to the sacred of Vinasikha and established the Lord of the Universe or Devaraja. Further to the existing of Khmer leadership, Brahman Hiranyadhamma also taught the King and his political councils the knowledge of the Vinasikha, the Nayottara, the Sammoha, and the Siraccheda.
The creation of this political institution is the masterpiece of paving strong foundation for Cambodia of its uncontested advancement in centuries later. The institution itself doesn’t solely articulate the personal supremacy as many researchers have said about “Devaraja”, of course, the cult is to institutionalize the righteousness or the Dhamma or the rule of law which is the constitution of the nation. As the King Jayavarman II passed away after his reign of 48 years, the principles of this establishment have been implemented by the successor Kings continuously.
ECONOMICS
The leadership of King Jayavarman II mainly concentrated on agriculture and fishing. His intention to move from Thbong Khmum to Siem Reap is significantly to look for fertile land to grow rice as well as to catch fish from this rich fresh water Tonle Sab Lake.
Many young generations of monarch inherited from King Jayavarman II never gave up this place. Nowadays, the lands surrounding Rolous and Angkor area are still greenery of rice stalk and rich natural resources.
EDUCATION AND HEALTH CARE
The study of different levels of leadership from those scriptures had passed from generations to generations. The new coming leaders such as Yasovarman, Suriyavarman VI, Suriyavarman II and Jayavarman VII etc. has followed this knowledge of leadership and developed it respectively.
Installing the sacred Linga on the top of Phnom Kulen was revered by all Khmer leaders and people in late centuries. The waterfall pumped up from the top of this mountain run through different villages and thousand hectares of rice paddy. People used this water to drink and to cure diseases.
Many small states who were under suzerainty of this great kingdom was said to be able to receive only one bamboo jar of 
water from this river during each state visit.
CONCLUSION
It is invaluable for all Cambodian leaders to look back to the past on how those ancient Khmer leaders can build this great empire? Sometime their works started from scratch, sometime their works started from internal division, sometime their works started from foreign invasion etc. Their political leadership is to put national interest first, not their personal family or clan first. King Jayavarman II projected his political leadership for long term survival of Cambodia. Put aside the greatness of Khmer leaders during the Angkor Empire, King Ang Duong initiated his political leadership in the same manner of that King Jayavarman II and his successor such as King Sisowat facilitated diligent leadership to remain Cambodia existence from Siam and Dai Viet until nowadays.
All Cambodian leaders must recite one stanza that “life is sooner perished but nation is eternalized. If one has failed their leadership to protect the interest of the nation, the bad consequence will fall up on them eternally”.
Statement of the Meeting between CNRP & CPP
Joint Statement of the Meeting
Between Working Group of Cambodia’s People Party and Working Group of Cambodia National Rescue Party
(Senate Building 18 February 2014)
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Courtesy of KEEN Languages Interpreter