YOUNG leaders are facing an uphill battle against populist and veteran politicians who are making it difficult for them to assume the leadership mantle, youth leaders and political analysts said.

They said this challenging political landscape and culture has allowed incompetent leaders to continue to thrive despite having bad leadership and crisis management skills.

Youth leaders told The Malaysian Insight there is absolutely no correlation between age and one’s ability to handle a crisis. Instead, they said, younger leaders are more able to come up with creative solutions.

Analysts, meanwhile, said for young leaders to shine on the national platform, they need to come out from the shadow of their respective parties.

Ilham Centre director Hisommudin Bakar told The Malaysian Insight local politics is still focused on figures such as former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad with his national operation council (NOC) idea and Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah who offered to serve as the interim prime minister.

He said young leaders, meanwhile, have remained silent and have not spoken up on the issues that are plaguing the younger generation of Malaysians.

“Young leaders are not viewed as a group that is capable of steering the country. They are perceived to lack the political will and confidence to voice their ideas,” he said.

“They need to come up with exceptional ideas to help steer Malaysia out of the grips of the Covid-19 pandemic and embrace the ideas of the people in order to succeed.

He added that the people are frustrated with what is going on in the country and are unsure which group – whether young politicians or veterans – will act for their benefit if they are voted in, in the next general election.

“We don’t even know if the young will come out to vote in the next general election. Even if they did, they may intentionally spoil their votes.

“However, there is still ample opportunity for young leaders who dare to break out of this old dogma. It is up to them now.

“Do they want to be future leaders or continue to be in the shadow of leaders who are reeling in failure,” said Hisommudin.

Political analyst Oh Ei Sun said age is not a benchmark to measure whether a leader is competent and successful.

“It’s not so much a question of old versus young as with the competent versus the incompetent and the smart versus the not so smart.

“It also comes down to having leaders who are exposed to the best practices in the world as opposed to close-minded politicians,” he said.

Oh said though young politicians such as DAP’s Yeo Bee Yin have proved themselves as competent leaders, veteran politicians will still get the people’s votes.

“The majority of voters in this country are not willing to give chances to the more competent, open-minded, smarter politicians because those who are more conservative also tend to be more populist.

“The same goes for those who are incompetent, they are populist.

“When it comes to handling the greater affairs of the country, they are totally incompetent but they are good in jockeying the people and creating stupid jokes, which is what a lot of people like,” Oh said.

Young leaders can bring diverse ideas and voices

Muda co-founder Lim Wei Jiat also agreed that there is no correlation between age and one’s ability to handle a crisis, but said younger leaders are more able to come up with creative solutions.

“Younger leaders, in general, do have an advantage in bringing progressive creative solutions to the table, not straight-jacketed like the ‘old’ bureaucratic way of doing things, the ability to communicate ideas effectively via social media.”

Lim gave the example of Muar lawmaker Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman who has raised funds to buy hundreds of tablets for his constituents to help them navigate online learning at home.

“Just look at him cutting through the red tape and delivering thousands of laptops efficiently to his constituents.

“Look at how he uses Instagram and TikTok to raise pressing issues like deaths in custody and reopening Parliament, that is able to reach an audience in which mainstream media is unable to,” he said.

Lim said the solution to Malaysia’s leadership crisis is to elect as many young leaders as possible to bring diversity in voices and ideas.

“Youths are severely under-represented in local councils, state legislative assemblies, all the way to Parliament. Just look at the failed Cabinet today – I can’t name a single minister who is under 40.”

Perak DAP Youth secretary Teoh Yee Chern said young leaders are ready to run the country if given the chance as unlike their older counterparts, young leaders are not busy politicking.

“I believe young leaders are ready to take over the running of the country at any time because they are fast in deciding the ways to combat Covid-19.

“Things are changing fast and we need leaders to focus wholeheartedly in handling this pandemic and not playing politics,” Teoh said.

The Astaka assemblyman added that people are fed-up with the current government’s failure and will give a chance to anyone who can give them hope.

“There is no harm in giving opportunities to young leaders.”

Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s (PSM) central committee member Sharan Raj said now is the time for Malaysia to get rid of the “old guards” who have thrived on racial politics.

“Malaysians must dump the racist old-guard politicians, including those who left Umno for Pakatan Harapan for their political careers.”

He added that race-oriented parties have “killed” critical and new ideas leading to political paralysis in Malaysia. – July 15, 2021.