LEFT on their own, Malaysian students, as a whole, have always been well-behaved. Unfortunately, there have been some groups with their own agendas, either politically or otherwise, which have been trying to organise them to be anti-establishment.

This has given the impression that the majority of these students are anti-government which of course is not the case. It is just that this noisy minority has been getting the publicity totally out of proportion to its size.

However, the fact remains that the majority of the students are law-abiding and have no desire to create any problem with the university authorities or the Government.

Those trying to show the students are anti-government are good at organising events which will put the establishment in a poor light. Government leaders and prominent politicians from the ruling Barisan Nasional invited to their seminars have often been subjected to organised abuse and not given the chance to voice their views.

Due to such tactics, Barisan leaders have avoided attending such meetings as they could not accept the treatment being meted out to them. But keeping their distance will not solve anything and can lead to more misunderstanding.

Government leaders need to have closer contact and dialogue with the students and being politicians they must be able to give and take. It is unfortunate that some of them have the habit of talking down to these undergraduates which  naturally does not go down well with the audience.

Politicians should take such antics in the right spirit and once they know that they cannot be intimidated by a few rowdy elements the atmosphere should change.

Actually the best person to have such dialogue with the students or any group for that matter is Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the Prime Minister, himself. He is able to handle himself and no student or opposition leader can intimidate him.

This was proven in his first such public meeting with students from the public and private universities recently. Contrary to what many people believe, the meeting went well and there was no untoward incident.

The PM was able to brief them on the latest political and economic development in the country and to answer their questions. This meeting showed the students were not all anti-government.

It is safe to say university students or those pursuing professional courses will be the future leaders of the country in politics, the corporate sector, the civil service and in society in general.

Due to their innocence, they are also easily influenced either for or against the Government or any individual. It is up to the Barisan leadership to ensure that these students are given the correct information about what is taking place in the country in all fields.

By neglecting them because of the fear of embarrassment in meeting them face to face is just leaving the field to those out to create problems between the Government and these students.

But Dr Mahathir cannot be meeting the students on his own and it is up to his Barisan colleagues to share this burden. Now that he has broken the ice, the other government leaders must do the follow-up and spend more time having dialogue sessions with the students and other groups.