An immature democracy ruled by old men

Pakatan Harapan should rethink its decision to nominate Anwar Ibrahim as its sole candidate for Prime Minister.

COMMENT

By Muhammad Addin

A mature democracy is one that gives young, enthusiastic and energetic people the opportunity to play their roles in nation-building. They are more attuned to the changing times than are older people. They tend to be more idealistic, which is good because ideals can be turned into visions that are useful for the advancement of a nation.

Obviously, experience is important in someone aspiring to be a leader. But how much experience does one need?

We’re still undergoing growing pains as a democracy; yet the average age of ministers in the Federal Cabinet is about 60. The youngest, at almost 40 years of age, has a junior portfolio, Youth and Sports. MPs representing Barisan Nasional are also mostly old men. The same is true with the important officials of our political parties.

In contrast, in the mature democracies of the Scandinavian countries, for instance, the average age of the cabinet members is about 45. To take two other examples, both the Italian and Greek prime ministers were born in the mid-1970s.

If the same practice were to be applied in Malaysia, Khairy Jamaluddin, Rafizi Ramli or Nurul Izzah Anwar would already have been groomed to become the next Prime Minister.

Do we lack capable and talented young people to take positions of leadership? The answer is obviously “No.” And yet, Pakatan Harapan has chosen Anwar Ibrahim as its candidate for Prime Minister. Anwar obviously has a lot of leadership experience, but he will be 71 by the time the next election comes around.

The patriarchal nature of politics in our country should be fixed. A leader should give the opportunity for those significantly younger than him to taste bigger responsibilities, to play bigger roles in decision making.

Young people should be appointed to head the important ministries so that they can become good candidates for the post of Prime Minister. And the political parties should make it easier for young people to contest for important party positions, including the presidencies. Political organisations should follow the example of successful corporations, many of which are led by young people.

Muhammad Addin is an FMT reader.