Democracy cannot be introduced to a group of people living in a country by an outside source.
When the British left our country, Burma, in 1948, they left us with a Westminster-type democracy.
But in 1962, General Ne Win, the then-Defence Chief took over the country from the most corrupt politicians and Burma has never regained democracy up to this day.
Burma could not keep the democratic flag up because the majority of the people, namely the peasants, were never taught at schools; instead they went to the monasteries to learn the Buddhist scripts.
At my departure from Burma, the intelligentsia was numbered at just 3.85 per cent of the population.
Burma was under an absolute monarchy for years before the British annexation in 1886.
In the days of the kings, if you had accidentally looked at the face of the monarch, such as the Great Queen, Shin Saw-Pu, she would ask her guards to seize you and gouge your eye balls out on the spot.
If you compare Iraq today with Burma, you notice the resemblances.
Iraqi people were never taught democracy at schools; the majority would only learn the Islamic scripts.
Democracy is not one of those easy human endeavours you could gain succinctly; it is a learnt behaviour of a people who have participated at the theory and practice of it for a long, long time, it is the greatest ethic evolved through education and training.
The Iraqi people were under tyrants and the enlightened despots for a long, long time before their present situation.
Many of their eye balls have been gouged out like the Burmese people.
I can foretell that the power of guns will take its booty in Iraq for a long time to come, whereas you will find democracy in Iraq will only be short-lived.