Arab countries must urgently establish a framework for democracy before impatience and anger spread among the masses, Qatar's First Deputy Prime Minister warned yesterday. "I am afraid of what could happen if we do not speed up the process of democratic reforms in the region," said Shaikh Hamad Bin Jasem Al Thani, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. "I fear that people could become impatient and expectations could turn into anger in the streets. We are talking a lot about democracy but we have not yet materialised the concept into programmes with a framework and a time schedule."Shaikh Hamad was addressing delegates at the Doha Forum for Democracy and Trade which concluded here yesterday. He said that as the masses become keener on acquiring human, political and civil rights, governments should guarantee proper frameworks and timetables to meet the people aspirations. "The issue is not only to have democracy, but how and when to start it. There are countries in the region where there is not even a debate on when to start the democratic process." Shaikh Hamad stressed that foreign pressure on the issue would not achieve any results, as reforms must abide by religious, social and cultural peculiarities of each country. "To import democracy would be a terrible mistake, we cannot impose systems which do not take into consideration our cultural and social features."
| I'd say the first step would be to stop thinking of them as "the masses." Us masses are just as human as you sheikhs and holy men. We have our own opinions, and if left to our own devices some of us will screw up and most of us will muddle along quite well enough, thank you. Some of us will even do great things. |