I refer to Fairplay's letter 'Clash of Civilisations' a reality?' .

When Professor Samuel P Huntington wrote The Clash of Civilisations , the chieftains of various Malaysian think-tanks denounced the book on the compelling ground, among others, that civilisations are intellectual constructs and, therefore, cannot clash. Only nations (led by their political leaders) can clash, they argued.

Yet, some of very same persons who denounced Huntington then promptly set up institutes here in Malaysia to promote "civilisational dialogue".

The same logic should apply. If civilisations cannot clash, civilisations also cannot possibly dialogue.

Only individuals representing themselves, their organisations, their nations, et cetera can dialogue.

Western civilisation cannot dialogue with Islamic civilisation. The heads of Western and Islamic countries can dialogue.

The heads of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, etc can dialogue. Democracy cannot dialogue with theocracy. Democratic politicians cannot dialogue with theocrats.