Gulf | Oman
'Democratisation is a gradual process'
Democracy cannot be imposed overnight and the GCC leaders have taken the right path of gradually introducing the democratic process in this region, according to Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Speaker of the Federal National Council of the UAE.
- By Sunil K. Vaidya, Bureau Chief
- Published: 23:29 December 24, 2008
- Image Credit: Sunil K. Vaidya/Gulf News
- In the past the West had tried to export one formula of democracy which should fit to the rest of the world and they discovered that this doesn't work, says Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, UAE Federal National Council speaker.
Muscat: Democracy cannot be imposed overnight and the GCC leaders have taken the right path of gradually introducing the democratic process in this region, according to Abdul Aziz Al Ghurair, Speaker of the Federal National Council of the UAE.
"In the past the West had tried to export one formula of democracy which should fit to the rest of the world and they discovered that this doesn't work," Al Ghurair noted in an interview with Gulf News at the end of second meeting of the GCC Shura councils, House of Representatives and Parliament, at the Al Bustan Palace Hotel in Muscat yesterday.
"Each country has the intention of moving towards democracy in its own way and we would like to embrace democracy at our own time scale," he stressed.
He believes that that there should be awareness as well as democratic culture.
"People should understand even voters should understand what does it mean to vote or not to vote, we would like majority of people to vote, we would not like minority of people to hijack the parliament and take it to one direction or the other," he said.
Al Ghurair pointed to the low voter turnout in most democracies, including Europe, and added that, in the GCC, leaders would like every citizen to participate in the process of Shura.
"We have to be careful, our leaders have realised that and they want to go that way (democracy) but want it to suit our culture," he said.
Al Ghurair talked about creating awareness about democracy, elections and the responsibilities that come as a result. He also expressed a wish for Parliamentary sessions to be open to the public.
"We should always encourage people to come and see how parliament is working," he said, adding that in the UAE students are invited to watch country's FNC sessions to see parliament in action.
"That is part of our campaign to create awareness about the working of our parliament," said the FNC Speaker.
Regarding giving more power to the Shura councils in the region, Al Ghurair said that the UAE's leaders were giving powers to the FNC members gradually.
"We don't want powers overnight as we won't know what to do with it," he said.
He said that in order for the FNC to gain more power it would need its members to gain more experience.
"In the UAE, 93 per cent of FNC members are new, so we need to build culture, create experience and then people will start producing."
Al Ghurair expressed satisfaction with the second meeting of the GCC Shura councils, House of Representatives and Parliament.
"It was an excellent meeting and opportunity given by our leaders to allow better coordination between parliaments of the GCC," he said.
He also advocated a unified voice for the GCC Parliament at regional as well as International meetings.
"We have also agreed for a better coordination between the GCC parliaments. Locally, internationally Islamic summit pan Arabic Islamic. We should try to speak one language across these conferences," he said.
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