I don’t often say this, but I heartily agree with PAS that the Prime Minister’s post should be held by someone under 70.
In fact, I will go further. Not only should the Prime Minister’s post be held by someone under 70, but Parliament should also pass a law that says a person is automatically disqualified from standing for election if they have passed the average life expectancy of the country.
The average life expectancy for a male in Malaysia is 73, but our Prime Minister and all of his potential challengers are well past their expiry date.
Anwar is 78. So is Muhyiddin. Hadi is 77.
To his credit, even Hadi Awang himself admitted that he was no longer qualified to be Prime Minister because of his age and health. He said plainly that the role is better suited for those under 70 — strong, healthy, and able to work with the people on the ground. “I am already 78 years old; someone like me is no longer suitable. Choose the healthiest first… those under 70 are stronger,” he said.
PAS Youth backed him up. Its deputy chief, Mohd Hafez Sabri, pointed out that although Hadi’s statement was brief, it reflected the party’s serious commitment to introduce fresh leadership in national governance. He added that it showed PAS’s determination not to rely on “recycled” figures but to put forward candidates who are more capable, dynamic, and competitive.
Now, all of us might be indoctrinated to believe that a person becomes wiser and better with age, but this is strictly for the birds.
The overwhelming majority of people will only deteriorate and decline, not only physically but mentally and emotionally also, as they age.
You can see this not only in your own life but in our national scene — there is nobody in any field who became better as they aged. In physical fields, a person starts deteriorating after their 30s. In intellectual fields, a person starts declining after their 50s — there are no CEOs or leaders who did better for their people and organisation after their 60s than before it.
The only field where a person may become better as they age is spiritually or philosophically, but like all things, philosophical and spiritual growth also depends on belief and practice. If you believe in purifying your heart and soul of anger and greed, enlarging your heart and mind, and perfecting your virtues rather than accumulating wealth and status or enjoying pleasures and admiration — and if you spend more time doing the former than the latter — then you will grow in philosophy and spirituality as you age.
If not, even if you reach 100 years old, you will still see no philosophical or spiritual growth. Instead, you will remain a worldly creature that clings to power, status and wealth — except that you will not even be able to succeed in accumulating them, because age has rendered you old, feeble and weak.
Let’s face it — all the old people we have in our national scene are people who spent their lives chasing after power, position, wealth and status. If they are prudent, they will have saved some of it, and what they have saved should be enough to keep them afloat in their old age.
What they cannot expect, though, is to continue accumulating power, position, wealth and status in their old age as they did in their younger years. This is delusional — there is no one in any field who has been able to do this through time in any corner of the world.
A 78-year-old man who thinks he is better able to lead the country to worldly success — whether by wealth, power, fame or status — than a 40- or 50-year-old man is as delusional as a former world heavyweight boxing champion in his 70s thinking that he can take on the current heavyweight champion and succeed.
Also, if you have spent your first 50 or 60 years of life chasing after wealth, power, fame and status, you should at least spend what remaining time you have purifying your heart and mind, perfecting your virtue and enlarging your heart and mind.
You don’t have much time after all. When you die, your wealth, status, power and admiration will be of no use to you.
The only things you can count on to face death are your virtues, knowledge and purity. Even if there is no such thing as the next world, having virtue, knowledge and purity will at least allow you to face your demise without being terrorized by horror.
In every way, either for their own sake or for the sake of the country, it should be clear to us that old people are of no use to anyone if they continue to cling to power, wealth, status and fame even after they have breached their life expectancy.
If we are aware enough to know that everybody will decline and deteriorate with age to set the retirement age at 60, we should have no problem pushing for legislation to limit the retirement age of a politician to 70, as Hadi himself suggested.
If we can see the pitfalls of having a driver drive a bus after the age of 60, we should be even more aware of the pitfalls of having a politician drive the country past the expiry age of 78.
This view that old people should be allowed to continue with their job to “serve society, nation and the people”, because they have a lot of experience and wisdom to contribute to the nation and society, is the wrong way of looking at the issue. The right way of seeing it is to realise that old people are clinging to their jobs even when they know that they are not as capable as they used to be, and even when all of us know that a younger person could do a much better job, simply because they don't know what else to do with themselves.
These old people have a problem — they need professional help.
To think that these old people can solve the problems of society and the nation when they can’t even solve their own problem is silly and unrealistic.
To persuade these old people to find help , while at the same time doing the nation and people a favour, we must take Hadi's opinion one step further, and pass a legislation to limit a person from holding an elected office, including the Prime Ministership, beyond the age of 70.
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