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No country for young men: Where is Malaysia’s next generation of leaders?

Malaysia’s wait for younger leaders closer to the age of the average voter is set to be a long one.

Malaysian Prime Minister and president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) Mahathir Mohamad (C) grins widely as his ally, Foreign Minister Abdullah Badawi (R) wins one of the three vice presidential seats in the triennial elections of UMNO in Kuala Lumpur October 10. The other two seats was won by Chief Minister of Selangor state Muhammad Muhammad Taib (L) and Education Minister Najib Tun Razak (2nd-L). Deputy Prime Minister and vice president of UMNO Anwar Ibrahim (2nd-R) celebrates with the winners.

MALAYSIA POLITICS

A photo from Oct 10, 1996, showing then Malaysian Prime Minister and Umno president Mahathir Mohamad (centre) after the party's triennial elections, with (from left) then Selangor Chief Minister Muhammad Muhammad Taib, then Education Minister Najib Razak, then Umno vice-president Anwar Ibrahim and then Foreign Minister Abdullah Badawi.

PHOTO: REUTERS

Shannon Teoh

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s former finance minister Daim Zainuddin died on Nov 13 aged 86. Even in his advanced years, he was still considered a political threat to 77-year-old Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

A graft investigation was launched against Tun Daim in 2023, one he decried as a political witch-hunt.

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Malaysian politics

Anwar Ibrahim

Mahathir Mohamad