Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – In the future, US congressmen, Hollywood stars or rich donors all have the identical message for President Joe Biden – they need the 81-year-old to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
Surveys present that many American voters are apprehensive about Biden’s outdated age and efficiency. His opponent is 78-year-old Donald Trump, who’s hardly youthful and survived an assassination try final week.
However age isn’t any difficulty in Southeast Asia’s Malaysia, the place high politicians have come to energy with common help regardless of their superior age.
The obvious examples are Mahathir Mohamad, who turned the nation’s seventh prime minister in 2018 on the age of 92, and present prime minister Anwar Ibrahim – Malaysia’s third Ten-term Prime Minister, he takes workplace in 2022 and is in his 70s.
Malaysian voters interviewed by Al Jazeera mentioned the insurance policies of Mahathir and Anwar might be extra vital than their age when the nation goes to the polls.
“I did take into account their age, particularly Mahathir as a result of he was in his 90s on the time,” Layla Subra, a 35-year-old enterprise govt, advised Al Jazeera.
“However for his or her half, each got here throughout as fairly sharp and centered regardless of their age. So it did not strongly affect my voting resolution,” Subra mentioned.
Mahathir has served because the Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years from 1981 to 2003. When he was re-elected in 2018, he turned the oldest serving Prime Minister within the Guinness E-book of World Information on the age of 92 years and 141 days.
Though the official retirement age in Malaysia is 60 – the median age within the nation of 34 million is simply over 30 – an earlier age isn’t seen as an issue for voters accustomed to the concepts of older lawmakers. issue.
In China, age will not be seen as a political barrier both.
Xi, 71, gained a 3rd five-year time period as president final yr, whereas Deng Xiaoping, then China’s supreme chief, was 87 when he undertook his well-known “southern tour” in 1992, which was geared toward following the financial stagnation. financial reform.
Deng Xiaoping’s inspection of the key southern financial zone was seen as his final large-scale political transfer, reaffirming China’s dedication to free market liberalization and the opening up of China’s economic system and commerce.
You’re by no means too outdated for Malaysian politics
It isn’t unusual for politicians to run in elections to defend seats they’ve held for many years within the nation’s parliamentary system.
Malaysia’s present oldest member of parliament is Fong Kui Lun from the Democratic Motion Social gathering (DAP), who’s 77 years outdated and has been a member of Parliament since 1999.
Whereas some voters advised Al Jazeera they want to see younger folks within the electoral lineup, they have been extra involved in regards to the insurance policies of the day than the age of the candidates.
“I’d give precedence to who has a greater plan, not essentially age,” mentioned 40-year-old workplace supervisor Shaun Ho.
“Older leaders with higher plans are nonetheless extra common than youthful leaders who’re nonetheless following the established order,” Sean mentioned.
Within the run-up to the 2018 election, Mahathir campaigned with a powerful anti-corruption message concentrating on his former protégé Najib Razak, who was later discovered responsible for his position within the 1MDB monetary scandal. convicted for his position. Najib, the nation’s sixth prime minister, was sentenced to 12 years in jail, however the nation’s pardon board halved his sentence earlier this yr.
Malaysians don’t straight select their head of presidency, however vote alongside conventional social gathering traces for candidates based mostly on their area of residence.
“It normally would not matter who the members of parliament are as a result of we principally vote for the social gathering whose insurance policies we wish to come to energy,” mentioned businessman Nicholas Chin, 40.
“All of us need to vote strategically. That’s, I’ll vote for the candidate who I believe will do the least hurt.
Malaysia has had 10 prime ministers since independence from British colonial rule in 1957, with the primary 4 elected leaders aged of their 40s to 50s.
However all prime ministers have related traits. They’re all males, Muslims by religion and former members of the United Malays Nationwide Group (UMNO), as soon as the nation’s largest political social gathering.
Well being, not age, is the issue
Regardless of their advancing years, Mahathir, 99, and Anwar, 76, seem to have largely maintained their bodily and psychological well being nowadays.
Mahathir, who was a physician when he entered politics within the late Fifties, advised AFP in 2020 that he used treadmills and train bikes to remain match and adopted a strict eating regimen.
In February final yr, Anwar posted on social media that he had gone for a bodily examination and the physician gave him a well being certificates.
This was regardless of struggling a extreme spinal damage and being jailed twice for sodomy expenses that have been extensively seen as politically motivated, spending practically a decade in jail. His first conviction was overturned and his second conviction was pardoned.
In 2022, Mahathir suffered his worst political defeat in a nationwide election after resigning as prime minister two years in the past and later forming a brand new social gathering centered on Malay voters.
Though Mahathir has not too long ago confronted a sequence of well being points and turned 99 earlier this month, he has continued to write down about public opinion on politics. He’s presently hospitalized once more and Al Jazeera was unable to contact him for remark.
Bridget Wells, a political analyst on the College of Nottingham Malaysia, mentioned that whereas a candidate’s age does matter to some voters, what issues extra is the candidate’s means and background.
“So far as Mahathir is worried, his well being did not appear to be a problem, however then it was the ideological perspective,” Wells mentioned.
“Age solely tells a part of the story… What issues to Joe Biden is his well being,” she mentioned.
Calls throughout the Democratic Social gathering for Biden to withdraw from the presidential race have grown louder after he examined optimistic for COVID-19 final week after years of public gaffes.
In a single current incident, Biden referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as Russian President Vladimir Putin and has struggled to seek out the best phrases in different public appearances.
Extra voices are questioning whether or not Biden ought to stay within the race after his disastrous televised public debates towards Trump, who has been condemned for his diatribes towards minorities and immigrants, sending Democrats into panic .
“I believe the distinction between our election and the U.S. election is that Biden and Trump should not bodily and mentally match,” mentioned Elza Irdalynna, a 37-year-old Malaysian author and actor. .
Elza mentioned that in America’s deeply polarized local weather, the insurance policies of politicians matter greater than the “common American” voter.
“That is why they want a well-liked figurehead to steer the sport, as a result of it is seen,” she mentioned.
“Although they’ve higher, youthful candidates who deserve these seats,” she added.
