No country for young men

Malaysia's wait for younger leaders closer to the age of the average voter is set to be a long one.

- Shannon Teoh

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's former finance minister Daim Zainuddin died on Nov 13 aged 86. Even in his advanced years, he was still considered a political threat to 77-year-old Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

A graft investigation was launched against Tun Daim in 2023, one he decried as a political witch-hunt.

Even in his final days, Mr Daim insisted on clearing his name of the "malicious and politically motivated" criminal charge of failing to declare his assets.

Revenge by Datuk Seri Anwar was the reason Mr Daim, who had been an influential force in Malaysian corporate and political circles since the 1970s, was vilified at the end of his life - or so two-time former premier Mahathir Mohamad claims.

Tun Dr Mahathir himself, despite being 99, still seeks to galvanise an opposition force capable of defeating Mr Anwar. If he is successful, Malaysia may see the return of opposition chief Muhyiddin Yassin, currently aged 77, to power.

Then there's Deputy Prime Minister and Umno president Zahid Hamidi, aged 71, fighting for survival along with former prime minister Najib Razak, who will be 80 before he can stand for election in 2033. Taxpayers will still be paying off debts from the billion-dollar 1MDB state fund scandal that landed Najib in jail.

YOUNGER SUCCESSORS ARE SIDELINED

This geriatric cast of Malaysia's most influential figures suggests politics has skipped an entire generation.

With three-fifths of the electorate aged 40 or below, the question is when the nation can move beyond these decades-old grudges with a fresh breed of younger leaders invested in the future rather than the past.

This same question has plagued Malaysia for decades.

The thinning of the herd started in the 1980s and, over the course of a decade, then Prime Minister Mahathir sidelined three potential successors.