I wish to respond to Premier Najib Abdul Razak's comment that "Street demos and mooning not our culture."

By saying its un-Malaysian is he alluding that it is the culture of some nationalitities?

By understanding our young people in relation to these recent incidents as having adopted a "western mindset "is not seeing the picture as a whole.

In fact by adopting such a mindset, the premier and his political party seeks to alienate the young people of our country even further.

No culture that I know of encourages rude and indecent behaviour. Some cultures promote public expression of discontent more than others.

Asian culture is more reserved and if the discontent is not expressed its kept in the heart and comes out in words and deeds which are perhaps more venomous.

My point is this, rather than trying to understand the discontent of our young people in Malaysia, the government and the premier seeks to censure them using state authoritarian apparatus.

This is unnecessary and as seen in generations past it will create greater rebellion.

The main benefit of social media and the information age is the power of dialogue and this is the main seperation between the old who do not embrace the information age and the young.

I must say that the opposition party in Malaysia, has embraced this well and is enjoying the support of many young Malaysians through meaningful dialogue.

Mooning and stepping on a photograph and other rash behaviour are merely expressions of anger internally. Allowing meaningful dialogue will provide release to this anger.

Have you not heard of the phrase used in the Sixties "The angry young man?" Censuring and silencing them will increase their rebellion.

What our young Malaysians want is a listening ear and understanding. They want to be a part of the democratic process and to voice their dissatisfaction. Give them that space.