The country’s youths should rethink their intention of going to the streets on issues of concern, opines former minister Rafidah Aziz.

The young, she said, would take to the streets if given half the chance. But she believes that they should not go to social media and ask for demonstrations every other day.

“You see this happening everywhere, I don’t know, in the name of democracy, justice, you name it. Except in the name of the country, the good of the country,” she lamented.

Citing the Arab Spring, a series of popular uprisings that started in 2010 in the Middle East, Rafidah pointed out how it had instead become a “long Arab Winter” as it led to protests, riots and civil wars in the region.

“The Arab Spring, what is it? It’s now a harsh winter. Is it good? Of course, (there was) the enthusiasm. But what was good about it has been decimated," she said.

And so Rafidah added, youths should not be “copycats of newfangled ideas of democracy”.

“You don't even know how to spell democracy, (but) you want it,” she declared.

While Malaysia may not have witnessed demonstrations on a scale comparable to other countries, the Bersih rallies also had critics arguing they could lead to violent demonstrations if not curbed.