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Old age is not an issue for Malaysian politicians or voters, with Mahathir Mohamad breaking the Guinness World Record as the oldest serving prime minister at the age of 92.
It could be members of Congress one day, Hollywood stars or wealthy donors the next, and they all have the same message for President Joe Biden — they want the 81-year-old to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
Surveys show many American voters are concerned about Biden’s old age and achievements. He faces Donald Trump, 78, who is slightly younger and survived an assassination attempt last week.
But age is not an issue for Malaysia in Southeast Asia, where top politicians still enjoy popular support despite their advanced age.
The most obvious examples are Mahathir Mohamad, who took office as the country’s seventh prime minister at the age of 92 in 2018, and the current prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim, who took office in the mid-1970s and is Malaysia’s tenth prime minister.
Malaysian voters interviewed by Al Jazeera said that as the country heads into a general election, the policies of Mahathir and Anwar are more important than their age.
“I did take their ages into consideration, especially Mahathir because he was in his 90s at the time,” a 35-year-old businessman named Layla Subra told Al Jazeera.
“But in their case, despite their age, they came across as being quite sharp and focused. So it didn’t have a major impact on my voting decision,” Subra said.
Mahathir served as Prime Minister of Malaysia for a total of 22 years from 1981 to 2003, and was re-elected in 2018 at the age of 92 years and 141 days, becoming the oldest serving prime minister in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Although Malaysia’s official retirement age is 60 — a country of 34 million people with an average age of just over 30 — being older than that is rarely seen as a factor among voters accustomed to the way their lawmakers think.
Age is also not seen as a political barrier in China.
Mr. Xi, 71, won a third five-year term as president last year, while the country’s leading leader at the time, Deng Xiaoping, was 87 when he made his famous “Southern Tour” in 1992 to push for economic reforms that had stagnated after the military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.
Deng’s visit to the key southern economic region was seen as his last major political move, reaffirming China’s commitment to free-market liberalization and opening up the Chinese economy to trade.
Malaysian politics is never too old
It is not uncommon for politicians to contest elections to defend seats they have held for decades in the country’s parliamentary system.
The oldest current Member of Parliament in Malaysia is Democratic Action Party (DAP)’s Fang Kui Lun (77), who has been an MP since 1999.
While some voters told Al Jazeera they would like to see young people in the electoral line-up, they are more concerned about the policies of the day than the age of the candidates.
“I will give priority to those who have better plans, regardless of age,” said office manager Shaun Ho, 40.
“Older leaders with better plans are still more popular than younger leaders who are still following the status quo,” Sean said.
In the run-up to the 2018 election, Mahathir campaigned on a strong anti-corruption message against his former protégé Najib Razak, who was later convicted for his role in the 1MDB financial scandal. Najib, the country’s sixth prime minister, was sentenced to 12 years in prison, though the country’s pardon board halved his sentence earlier this year.
Malaysians do not elect their government leaders directly, but traditionally vote along party lines for candidates in the districts where they live.
“It usually doesn’t matter who the MPs are because we actually vote for the party we want to govern because of their policies,” said Nicholas Chin, a 40-year-old businessman.
“We all have an obligation to vote strategically. That is, I will vote for the candidate who I think will cause the least damage,” Chin said.
Malaysia has had 10 prime ministers since gaining independence from British colonial rule in 1957, with the first four elected leaders aged between 40 and 50.
But all the prime ministers have the same common qualities. They are all male, Muslim and were once members of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which was once the country’s largest political party.
Health, not age, is the factor
Even at their advanced ages, Mahathir, 99, and Anwar, 76, appear to have largely maintained their respective physical and mental health.
Mahathir, who was trained as a doctor when he entered politics in the late 1950s, told AFP in 2020 that he stayed healthy by using a treadmill and an exercise bike, as well as a strict diet.
In February last year, Anwar posted on social media that he had gone for a medical check-up and was given a clean bill of health by a doctor.
Despite suffering severe spinal cord injuries and spending nearly a decade in prison twice on sodomy charges widely believed to be politically motivated, his first conviction was overturned and he was pardoned for the second.
In 2022, Mahathir suffered his worst political defeat in a national election after he resigned as prime minister two years ago and later formed a new party targeting ethnic Malay voters.
Mahathir has continued to voice his public views on politics despite facing a series of health issues recently and turning 99 earlier this month. He is now back in hospital for treatment.
Bridget Welsh, a political analyst at the University of Nottingham Malaysia, said that while a candidate’s age was important to some voters, the candidate’s ability and background were more important.
“In Mahathir’s case, his health did not appear to be an issue, but it was the ideological viewpoint that emerged later,” Welsh said.
“Age only tells part of the story … What matters when it comes to Joe Biden is his health,” she said.
Biden tested positive for Covid-19 last week and calls for him to drop out of the presidential race have increased within the Democratic Party amid his many public blunders over the years.
In a recent incident, Biden referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as Russian President Vladimir Putin and has struggled to find the right words in other public appearances.
There are growing calls for Biden to withdraw after his disastrous public televised debate against Trump left Democrats panicking, while Trump came under fire for his tirades against minorities and immigrants.
“I think the difference between our election and the American election is that Biden and Trump are not fit, physically and mentally,” said Elza Irdalynna, a 37-year-old Malaysian writer and actor.
In America’s deeply polarized climate, politicians’ policies matter more than “ordinary Americans”; the voters, Elsa said.
“That’s why they need a popular figurehead to lead the race, because that’s visible,” she said. “Even though they have better, younger candidates who deserve these seats,” she added.
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