Newswav:
Do political dinosaurs still roam in Malaysia?
by Niza Shimi
Former lecturer, journalist, and PR consultant. Passionate about writing.
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Dinosaur footprints photographed in 2019. For illustration. (Credit: Greg Willis)
Intense drought in parts of the Northern Hemisphere has uncovered dinosaur footprints in Texas in the United States. But in Malaysia, there are creatures known as political dinosaurs that roam the land. These creatures may have sensed a drought of leadership in the country or are they actually trying to prevent younger leaders from rising?
University Malaya political analyst, Awang Azman Pawi, was quoted by Free Malaysia Today as naming Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (age 96), Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (age 85) and Lim Kit Siang (age 81) as political dinosaurs. Mike Allen of Axios writes that American Gerontocracy is run by President Joe Biden (age 79), and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (age 82), among others. Former President Trump is 76 years old.
Are political dinosaurs or gerontocrats in the way of younger leadership? Recent reports of younger leaders like Sanna Marin (age 36), the Prime Minister of Finland, in tears apologising for her private partying don’t give much assurance. Marin was elected as PM at age 34 to become the world’s youngest elected leader.
Is age a measure for good leadership? An interesting political “experiment” was the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition that won the 2018 general elections (GE14). Tun Dr Mahathir, who was 56 years old when he became the fourth PM of Malaysia, was sworn in as PM7 at age 92 years. He resigned two years later. He currently holds the record as the world’s oldest living former PM at 97 years.
Following the footprints of Tun Mahathir can be quite an archaeological dig. He was first elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) on a United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) ticket in 1964. In UMNO he was expelled, re-entered, served as president and eventually left the party in 2016. He then founded the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) but left in 2020 to form the Homeland Fighters Party (PEJUANG).
Few leaders can compete with Tun Dr Mahathir, that’s for sure. But is that what the future of Malaysia needs? The PH strategy for winning GE14 was possibly riding on Tun’s popularity, although some may argue otherwise. What will be their strategy for GE15? Will Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (age 75) finally get to be PM?
The Sheraton Move also saw a departure of several key PH leaders such as Dato’ Seri Azmin Ali (age 57) and Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin (age 64), initially to BERSATU but Zuraida is now with Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM). Then there’s a party with a name that even says they are young though they say otherwise, the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) formed in September 2020. Their elected representatives are Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman (age 29) as MP for Muar and Amira Aisya Abdul Aziz (age 27) as a member of the Johor State Assembly for Puteri Wangsa.
Malaysian politics is never boring, that’s for sure. The twists and turns can be mind-boggling to follow. While UMNO will be campaigning on political stability and Malay sentiments, there’s the new loose political group called Gerakan Tanah Air formed by Tun Dr Mahathir to fight them. Malays have often voted along racial and religious lines. Will Malay voters be confused by all this?
It would be good to see more new faces in the upcoming GE15 if only to save us from boredom. The world is a very challenging place. If young leaders need to attend wild parties to be normal, will that affect their leadership? Are political dinosaurs still relevant in the digital age? How will millennials vote in GE15? After the political chaos since GE14, will Malaysians choose stability instead? Bring on GE15!
Niza Shimi is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav.
Intense drought in parts of the Northern Hemisphere has uncovered dinosaur footprints in Texas in the United States. But in Malaysia, there are creatures known as political dinosaurs that roam the land. These creatures may have sensed a drought of leadership in the country or are they actually trying to prevent younger leaders from rising?
University Malaya political analyst, Awang Azman Pawi, was quoted by Free Malaysia Today as naming Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (age 96), Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (age 85) and Lim Kit Siang (age 81) as political dinosaurs. Mike Allen of Axios writes that American Gerontocracy is run by President Joe Biden (age 79), and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (age 82), among others. Former President Trump is 76 years old.
Are political dinosaurs or gerontocrats in the way of younger leadership? Recent reports of younger leaders like Sanna Marin (age 36), the Prime Minister of Finland, in tears apologising for her private partying don’t give much assurance. Marin was elected as PM at age 34 to become the world’s youngest elected leader.
Is age a measure for good leadership? An interesting political “experiment” was the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition that won the 2018 general elections (GE14). Tun Dr Mahathir, who was 56 years old when he became the fourth PM of Malaysia, was sworn in as PM7 at age 92 years. He resigned two years later. He currently holds the record as the world’s oldest living former PM at 97 years.
Following the footprints of Tun Mahathir can be quite an archaeological dig. He was first elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) on a United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) ticket in 1964. In UMNO he was expelled, re-entered, served as president and eventually left the party in 2016. He then founded the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) but left in 2020 to form the Homeland Fighters Party (PEJUANG).
Few leaders can compete with Tun Dr Mahathir, that’s for sure. But is that what the future of Malaysia needs? The PH strategy for winning GE14 was possibly riding on Tun’s popularity, although some may argue otherwise. What will be their strategy for GE15? Will Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (age 75) finally get to be PM?
The Sheraton Move also saw a departure of several key PH leaders such as Dato’ Seri Azmin Ali (age 57) and Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin (age 64), initially to BERSATU but Zuraida is now with Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM). Then there’s a party with a name that even says they are young though they say otherwise, the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) formed in September 2020. Their elected representatives are Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman (age 29) as MP for Muar and Amira Aisya Abdul Aziz (age 27) as a member of the Johor State Assembly for Puteri Wangsa.
Malaysian politics is never boring, that’s for sure. The twists and turns can be mind-boggling to follow. While UMNO will be campaigning on political stability and Malay sentiments, there’s the new loose political group called Gerakan Tanah Air formed by Tun Dr Mahathir to fight them. Malays have often voted along racial and religious lines. Will Malay voters be confused by all this?
It would be good to see more new faces in the upcoming GE15 if only to save us from boredom. The world is a very challenging place. If young leaders need to attend wild parties to be normal, will that affect their leadership? Are political dinosaurs still relevant in the digital age? How will millennials vote in GE15? After the political chaos since GE14, will Malaysians choose stability instead? Bring on GE15!
Niza Shimi is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav.
Age is just a number.
ReplyDeleteMalaysian politics is proof enough that there is no correlation between age , whether old or young, and capability, sincerity , and integrity.
Wakakaka…
ReplyDeleteThere is an awakening amongst the melayu crowd!
Just take a closer look at those gathering makcik/pakcik chanting for jibby at the courtyard of the Federal Court. They r the majority, with spackle of youth!
These r the dinosaurs, political wannabees - way pass their shelf life!
Bit the low density of real melayu youth voices, indicating too that this awakening would take a long long time to evolve.