PETALING JAYA: The 15th General Election (GE15) voting trends had indicated a preference for a younger Parliament.
Malaysians on Nov 19 voted in a slightly younger group of lawmakers to Parliament, with more MPs below the age of 50 compared with the previous general election in 2018.
The number of MPs below the age of 50 grew to 84 or 37.8% of the 222-member Dewan Rakyat, up from 72 (32.4%) in GE14.
Meanwhile, those above 50 years old shrunk by 9% from 150 MPs in GE14 to 137 MPs in GE15.
Overall, the median age of MPs dipped slightly to 52.4 compared with 53.4 in GE14.
With 97-year-old former Langkawi MP Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and 85-year-old former Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah both failing to defend their seats, there are no longer any MPs above the age of 80.
The oldest MP is currently Bukit Bintang's Fong Kui Lun, who is 76.
The youngest MPs voted into Parliament in GE15 are Batu’s P. Prabakaran and Sungai Petani's Dr Taufiq Johari, both of whom are 26 years old.
The following shows the age breakdown of the current MPs compared with those in GE14:
The number of MPs aged 35 and below grew by 37.5% from eight MPs in GE14 to 11 MPs in GE15.
The following are highlights of the youngest MPs:
The following shows the comparison between the oldest MPs in GE14 and those elected in GE15:
The education background of the elected MPs in GE15 is about the same as in GE14, with most MPs having a tertiary education, especially in law, business studies or engineering.
A total of 109 of the newly-elected MPs are new faces, but many have wide experience and have occupations including doctors, engineers, lawyers, magistrates and university lecturers.
One unfortunate outcome of GE15 is in female representation. While there has been a gradual rise in the number of women MPs over the years, GE15 saw a slight drop with 30 female MPs voted in compared to 32 in GE14.
