How young is too young to play politics?

The article discusses the age debate surrounding candidates in the Melaka election, focusing on Amanah's Muhammad Mukhlisul Mubin Julaisapiyah, 25, and PKR's Farzana Hayani Mohd Nasir, 26.

Their young age has sparked discussions about whether they lack experience or offer fresh perspectives.

The article argues that while age and experience are important considerations, young candidates can bring energy, modern perspectives, and a willingness to embrace change.

Ultimately, it emphasizes that voters will determine the suitability of these young candidates, as age, experience, and other credentials should be taken into account when making electoral decisions.

NOVEMBER 5 — It recurs with no outcome and stays tepid till the next election.

We’re talking about age, that candidates are too young.

In this Melaka election the spotlight is on Amanah’s Muhammad Mukhlisul Mubin Julaisapiyah, aged 25, in coastal Kuala Linggi (N01) connected to Negeri Sembilan, and PKR’s Farzana Hayani Mohd Nasir, 26, much further down the coast closer to the city at Kelebang (N14).

Their age turns into a lightning rod on social media.

Perhaps answers are necessary. I want to ignore the urge to end this examination with the churlish and clichéd “age is just a number”. It is a number but to sidestep it only forces a rerun. Also, it’s lazy. As lazy as the comments online.

So, here’s an attempt at answers.

For a useful comparison, Mukhlisul, the UKM law graduate, faces one-term Barisan Nasional (BN) assemblyman Rosli Abdullah, aged 58 and a deputy exco. There’s a lot of history, however, but not between the candidates.

Julasapiah Kasim, Mukhlisul’s dad has been the failed Kuala Linggi candidate for 22 years except one time. Five times he failed to unseat BN in Kuala Linggi, four of those times as a PAS man.

His family has contested Kuala Linggi — unsuccessfully — even before he was born. Mukhlisul wins on familiarity but is also a beneficiary of family ties to get the ticket this young.

Farzana squares off against two-time assemblyman and exco Lim Ban Hong (BN-MCA). He’s 49. He lost in 2018 after his first term, only to regain it in 2021. He was a senator and deputy MITI minister in those Covid-19 years but failed to win the Tangga Batu parliamentary seat in 2022.

The Melaka MCA chairman has had his ups and down and is a clearcut favourite. Him losing after party president Wee Ka Siong sulked till MCA got two more seats to contest would be a slap to the organisation. Never has MCA been gladder to have PAS in its corner.

The PKR candidate surprisingly is a second-time candidate. She was 21, when she was fielded in Jasin’s Sungai Rambai in 2021.

The Undi-18 bill was passed in 2019 and also reduced the age eligibility of candidates.

Legally, 18 is enough to have your name on the ballot.

Yes, but only barely is the retort.

The critics are OK with 18-year-olds working as McDonald’s crew but not as a board member in the Malaysian franchise. Maybe 25-26 is adequate to be assistant manager but surely not to be a member in the Melaka assembly.

Most of the civil servants would be older than them. They risk being mistaken as interns.

They will not have as they say, years spent on earth therefore accumulated mistakes which are branded as experience today.

This must be conceded. Nevertheless, a lot of older representatives are equally bamboozled by civil servants and the issues of the day.

Yet there is the argument, younger reps are wired-in to issues of artificial intelligence, youth employment, environmental care, tourism, public transportation and urban development. There is a need to have the perspectives of twentysomethings in a hall with the majority in their fifties and above.

Here’s some inconvenient truths, young people bring energy. This is not the worst thing to have in an assembly to serve the people of Melaka.

They may be open to transparency far, far more than those much-much older raised in a system where the government turns its wheels in the dark.

Pounding it in more, the lack of experience also deciphers as not burdened by the past as in less defensive to unlearn and adopt new thinking.

These are nett positives. An age mix in the assembly is a boon, not a bane.

Then, there is the often not stated reality. Mukhlisul and Farzana know they are young and are reminded of it casually and indirectly daily. That they choose to stand up and be in the fray must matter too. They are willing to take the heat in the kitchen.

While most reach back to Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman’s mercurial rise at 25 to be appointed youth minister, there’s an evergreen example to top it.

Soon to be in house arrest and sometime prime minister Najib Razak won his first parliamentary election as a 22-year-old in 1976.

Granted, his dad’s passing improbably shoved him onto the stage, it did not stop the party naming him six years later as Pahang menteri besar. When he was 28 in 1982.

Here in 2026, many still quibble about Farzana trying to enter the assembly of a small state at 26.

Or are the rules different for those who have blue blood?

To suggest it is conceivable to accept younger candidates if they are from the right families and set the bar higher for those who are not.

They count votes over here

The discussion of age is actually an extension of the fuller need for candidate disclosure.

Does age matter? Definitely, young and old, and very old. Experience? A hundred per cent.

So do examinations about educational background and whether degrees were dished out by dodgy organisations serenading as universities.

In short, let the voters know as much as they can. Which acts as a shout out for public debates, which is shunned by 90 per cent of candidates from all sides. If speaking against opponents is too daunting then perhaps they should not speak for their constituencies in the assembly.

But after that is done, there is the most critical aspect of a vibrant democracy.

The voters decide. Whether for the wrong or right reasons. Their judgement is decree.

That’s the ultimate filter.

And the voters are made of all folks 18 and above. While the young numerically dominate the electoral roll, the outstanding attendance rate of voters 40 and above renders them kingmakers.

Mukhlisul and Farzana have to present themselves electable to voters in Kuala Linggi and Kelebang.

The voters, young and old, get to make their determination.

Who are we to adjudicate the judgement of the people?

How young is decided by voters.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.

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这篇文章讨论了围绕马六甲选举候选人的年龄争论，重点关注诚信党的 25 岁的穆罕默德·穆赫里苏尔·穆宾·朱莱萨皮亚 (Muhammad Mukhlisul Mubin Julaisapiyah) 和公正党的 26 岁的法扎娜·哈雅妮·莫哈末纳西尔 (Farzana Hayani Mohd Nasir)。

他们的年龄引发了关于他们是否缺乏经验或能否带来新视角的讨论。

文章认为，虽然年龄和经验是重要的考虑因素，但年轻的候选人可以带来活力、现代的视角和接受变革的意愿。

最终，它强调选民将决定这些年轻候选人是否合适，因为在做出选举决定时应该考虑年龄、经验和其他资历。

11月5日——选举再次举行，但仍然没有结果，气氛一直不温不火，直到下次选举。

我们说的是年龄问题，候选人太年轻了。

在这次马六甲选举中，焦点集中在诚信党的 Muhammad Mukhlisul Mubin Julaisapiyah（25 岁）和公正党的 Farzana Hayani Mohd Nasir（26 岁），前者位于与森美兰州相连的沿海瓜拉宁宜 (N01)，后者则位于靠近城市的基里邦 (N14)。

他们的年龄在社交媒体上成了热门话题。

或许，答案是必要的。我本想用那句粗俗陈词滥调“年龄只是个数字”来结束这场讨论，但最终却不得不面对它。年龄的确只是个数字，但回避它只会让问题重演。而且，这样做很懒惰，就像网上那些懒惰的评论一样。

所以，以下是一些尝试解答。

为了便于比较，马来西亚国立大学法律系毕业生穆赫利苏尔将与现年58岁、曾任国民阵线州议员一届的罗斯利·阿卜杜拉（同时也是州议会副议员）展开角逐。尽管两人之间有着诸多渊源，但并非是彼此之间的过往。

穆克利苏的父亲朱拉萨皮亚·卡西姆，除了有一次之外，连续22年竞选瓜拉林吉选区议员均告失败。他曾五次挑战国阵，其中四次是以伊斯兰党候选人的身份参选，但都未能成功。

在他出生之前，他的家族就曾多次竞选瓜拉林吉选区议员，但均以失败告终。穆赫利苏尔凭借家族背景和知名度赢得选举，也得益于家族关系，才能在如此年轻的时候就获得提名。

法尔扎纳将与两届州议员兼行政议员林万鸿（国阵-马华公会）展开角逐。林万鸿现年49岁，在2018年首届任期结束后落选，后于2021年重新当选。在新冠疫情肆虐的那几年，他曾担任参议员和国际贸易及工业部副部长，但在2022年竞选丹加峇都国会议席时失利。

马六甲马华公会主席的政绩起伏不定，目前是公认的热门人选。如果他因为党主席魏家祥的不满而落败，直到马华公会获得两个额外的席位才得以参选，那将是对该党的沉重打击。马华公会从未像现在这样庆幸有伊斯兰党的支持。

令人惊讶的是，人民公正党的这位候选人是第二次参选。2021年，她21岁时就代表该党参加了亚信县双溪兰拜选区的选举。

Undi-18 法案于 2019 年通过，该法案也降低了候选人的年龄资格。

从法律上讲，年满18岁就足以将你的名字列入选票。

是的，但反驳也只是勉强而已。

批评人士可以接受18岁的年轻人担任麦当劳员工，但却不能接受他们担任马来西亚特许经营公司的董事会成员。或许25、26岁可以胜任助理经理一职，但绝对不能成为马六甲州议会的成员。

大多数公务员的年龄都比他们大。他们很容易被误认为是实习生。

他们不会像人们所说的那样，在地球上度过多年，因此积累了如今被称作经验的错误。

这一点必须承认。然而，许多资深代表同样也被公务员和时事问题搞得晕头转向。

然而，也有人认为，年轻的代表们更关注人工智能、青年就业、环境保护、旅游业、公共交通和城市发展等问题。在一个以五十岁及以上人士为主的议会大厅里，有必要听取二十多岁年轻人的观点。

一些令人不快的真相是，年轻人充满活力。对于一个服务于马六甲人民的议会来说，这并非坏事。

他们或许比那些在政府运作暗箱操作的体制下长大的、年纪大得多的人，更能接受透明度。

进一步强调，缺乏经验也意味着没有被过去束缚，因此更容易摒弃旧观念，接受新思维。

这些都是利好因素。议会成员年龄构成多元化是一件好事，而不是坏事。

此外，还有一种常被忽视的现实。穆赫利苏尔和法尔扎娜深知自己还年轻，而且每天都会不经意间或间接地被提醒这一点。她们选择挺身而出，投身其中，这一点也至关重要。她们愿意在厨房里承受压力。

虽然大多数人会追溯到赛义德·萨迪克·赛义德·阿卜杜勒·拉赫曼 25 岁就被任命为青年部长的惊人崛起，但还有一个经久不衰的例子可以超越它。

即将被软禁的纳吉布·拉扎克曾任总理，22 岁时于 1976 年赢得了他的第一次议会选举。

诚然，他父亲的去世出人意料地将他推上了政治舞台，但这并没有阻止该党在六年后的1982年任命他为彭亨州务大臣。当时他28岁。

时隔 2026 年，许多人仍然对 26 岁的法尔扎娜试图进入一个小州的议会一事耿耿于怀。

还是说，对于出身高贵的人来说，规则就不同了？

有人认为，如果年轻候选人出身名门，可以考虑录用，但对出身名门的候选人则应提高标准。

他们在这里计票。

关于年龄的讨论实际上是候选人信息披露更全面需求的延伸。

年龄重要吗？当然重要，无论年轻、年老还是非常年老。经验呢？绝对重要。

因此，对教育背景的调查也存在疑问，比如学位是否是由一些冒充大学的不正规机构颁发的。

简而言之，要尽可能让选民了解情况。这实际上是在呼吁进行公开辩论，但90%的候选人都对此避之不及。如果与对手辩论太过棘手，那么他们或许就不应该在议会中代表各自的选区发言。

但在此之后，充满活力的民主制度最关键的方面就出现了。

选民做出决定。无论出于对错，他们的判断就是最终裁决。

这是终极过滤器。

选民由所有18岁及以上的人组成。虽然年轻人数量占选民总数的绝大多数，但40岁及以上选民的极高投票率使他们成为决定选举结果的关键人物。

Mukhlisul 和 Farzana 必须向瓜拉宁宜和吉里挽的选民展示自己可以当选。

无论老少，选民们都可以做出自己的决定。

我们有什么资格去评判人民的判断？

年龄限制由选民决定。

* 这是专栏作家的个人观点。

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