MALAYSIA has good young leaders but they have yet to establish a reputation for themselves, said Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

He said this is something young leaders must do to earn the trust of voters.

“They are very good but unfortunately, they have not established a reputation,” said the 95-year-old  in an interview with The Malaysian Insight at his office at Yayasan Albukhary in Kuala Lumpur recently.

“When you don’t have a reputation for doing something (important), it becomes difficult for people to put their trust in you.

“But, they (voters) are familiar with old people and their performance, so they keep going back to these old people.”

The former two-time prime minister was replying to a question on why political parties on both sides of the divide are always looking at those aged 60 and above to be their candidate for prime minister.

Dr Mahathir became the world’s oldest prime minister at 92 when he led Pakatan Harapan to federal power in 2018.

He was replaced by 72-year-old Muhyiddin Yassin in February after the latter pulled Bersatu out of the ruling coalition.

In its bid to regain Putrajaya, PH is again looking to Dr Mahathir, who is now 95, 72-year-old Anwar Ibrahim and 63-year-old Sabah Chief Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal.

By comparison, Finland currently has the youngest prime minister in Sanna Marin at 34, followed by Ukraine’s Oleksiy Honcharuk (35), El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele (38) and New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern (39).

Dr Mahathir, who is also Langkawi MP, said although he is willing to give up becoming prime minister again, it would be selfish of him not to be of service to the country.

“That is why I think they still involve me in their plans but, at the same time, they would like to get rid of the older leaders. But the young leaders have no reputation as yet.

“Syed Saddiq (Syed Abdul Rahman) is lucky because he has the opportunity to show his ability. And, there are younger leaders who are beginning to show their ability but have yet to reach their peak.

“It will take time for them to establish themselves as possible prime minister candidates.”

Dr Mahathir said he initially wanted to retire and “enjoy life” after stepping down in 2003 but many people asked him to return to help oust Barisan Nasional in the last general election.

“The reason they came to see me was because they were familiar with me. I was prime minister for 22 years and Malaysia became well known to the point people started calling us an Asian Tiger.”

History and experience

But the country’s oldest MP is hopeful that younger leaders will emerge after the recent Parlimen Digital.

Parlimen Digital was an initiative that saw youth representing the 222 federal constituencies in Malaysia in a mock online parliamentary session via virtual conferencing. Its organisers said they were neutral when it came to participants and did not choose anyone based on political inclinations.

Police, however, questioned several participants over the neutrality of the initiative.

“Obviously, they understand what is happening. But one thing about younger leaders is that they don’t know much about the history of this country, about our pre-independence, our fight for independence, etc.

“They accept what they see now as the normal thing, as if things have always been this way. But they don’t know that when I started, Kuala Lumpur only had a population of 300,000, and not the seven million of today.

“There have been changes but they think it’s always been like this. There has been a struggle,” said Dr Mahathir.

The former Umno president and Bersatu chairman said Malaysia used to have younger leaders.

“When we started politics, all of us were young. Even Abdul Razak (Hussein) was in his 40s (when he became prime minister). That would be considered young even now.

“I myself started very early. When I was in school, I was already leading groups and involved in campaigns against the Malayan Union. Still, it took me 18 years before I became an MP.

“We were all young leaders because we didn’t have many old leaders.”

He said although he started young, it still took a long time before he rose up the party ranks.

“I even lost in the 1969 elections before making my comeback after that. But, by that time, the central government leaders already knew me when I was a nMP in 1964-1969.

“Although, I was expelled from Umno, Abdul Razak thought I could contribute and I made a comeback and became a minister in 1974. But that still took a long time.”

Razak became the youngest prime minister when he was appointed in 1970 at the age of 48, while Dr Mahathir only became education minister in 1974 at 49.

One piece of advice Dr Mahathir has for young and upcoming leaders is for them to make their mark.

“Today, they want to be appointed young. For me, it was only after I was past 30 before I began to emerge (in politics) as I was an outspoken MP.

“My confrontations with PAP gave me a reputation. Younger people today must join a party and show they have leadership qualities and they will get there.” – July 22, 2020.