If US President George W Bush were to look east from his colonial enterprise in Iraq, he may find lessons to draw from the spirit of democracy due to take hold in the Islamic world this new year.

That is because out of the nine Asian countries where national elections are to be held, four will be in Muslim nations - Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran and Malaysia. The other countries where polls are due in 2004 are India, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and, possibly, Sri Lanka.