Muhamadu Buhari, Mahathir Mohamad: The Young Turn to the Old.

Malaysia's case is the clearest indication yet of what corruption does to a nation. For over three decades, starting from the late seventies, the country witnessed unprecedented development: rapid modernization, sustained economic growth and pacy technological advancement. It soon belonged to the elite club of Asian Tigers, alongside Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and North Korea: a group of hitherto poor or stagnant countries that had shed the toga of underdevelopment and almost miraculously had delved into the realm of advancement, helped by able leadership and technological incubation and tendering. They became the envy of the whole world and served as prototypes for other countries that wished to succeed.
Fast track to 2018 and Malaysia's story isn't all that alluring again and the culprit for this downturn is the usual, old suspect: the evil saboteur called corruption. It took less than ten years to undo all that had been achieved over three decades. Allegations of corruption were sufficient, showing how potent a force of destruction this phenomenon can be. National inertia set in instantly, placing on the back foot national enthusiasm, international trust and economic coordination. The Malaysia Development Berhad scandal has refused to die down and former prime minister Najib Razak has just been ordered not to leave the country. So bad and frightening was the situation that the electorate had to rally round ex prime minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the man under whom the unprecedented development took place in the eighties and nineties. Mohamad is ninety two years now, the oldest head of state on earth, even ahead of the long-reigning Queen Eliabeth of England, and has certainly lost much energy and vigor and for youths of twenty and thirty to have run back to him shows the desperation of the situation at hand. It is easy to underestimate the evil of graft, yet of all the prisms that voters use to view the actions and inactions of their leaders, it is easily the most powerful. The same happened in Nigeria in 2015, when the electorate decided to put their trust in ex head of state, General Muhamadu Buhari, then 72, now75: rejecting outright the then president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, a far younger man. But under Jonathan, corruption reigned supreme, graft and sleaze became almost institutionalized and economic and social collapse was not far away. The two cases are very instructive. Age, vigor, energy and health resonate with the electorate but the very moment graft factors in, they take the back seat. Trust becomes the overriding determinant, both for young and old voters. The old want to protect their savings and the young want to save their future, no pun intended here, and if it is an old and certainly ailing man that will do the job, so be it. At 92, Dr Mohamad is not in the best of health and Buhari had paid several visits to London over his health, even indulging in extended stays to stay well, but bizarre as it sounds, both men might yet win elections again. Without being able to summon the energy to campaign hard. They already had a huge political war chest in their reputation. Choice was no brainer during th 2014 polls once voters remembered Buhari's stern anti-corruption posture in his reign as military head of state and Malaysian voters had little choice in running back to Dr Muhamad. Savings or the future had to be saved.