MALACCA: Age – or youth – is no barrier for the senior assemblymen in Malacca who will be led by Datuk Ir Idris Haron, (pic) a Chief Minister who just turned 47.

Idris will unveil his new executive committee line-up at Dewan Seri Negri today and is expected to maintain most of the senior members appointed by his predecessor Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam.

The former exco members were mostly in their 60s, except for state MCA chief Datuk Gan Tian Loo, who is in his 40s.

Gan, however, will not take up any position in line with his party’s stand to not take up any government posts due to its poor performance in the 13th general election.

Among the previous exco members expected to be re­tained for the new term is Ayer Molek state assemblyman Datuk Md Yonus Husin, who previously chaired the Hou­sing, Local Government and Environ­ment committee.

“I don’t see the age gap as a factor here, The factor is the vast experience that Idris gained through the years as a professional and a politician.

“He (Idris) is not sitting on the Chief Mi­n­ister’s seat with only paper qualifications.

“He endured hardship before rising to his current position.

“His story itself has earned our respect,” he said.

Idris, who celebrated his birthday yesterday, wrote about his childhood experience in his blog.

When he turned 40, he related how he was chased out of the house by his stepfather at the age of eight.

Yunos believes that Idris’ childhood experience would benefit the rural folk, as he would attempt to uplift the standard of living among the middle and low-income groups in the state.

“We will work with him and not refuse to listen just because he is younger than all of us,” he said.

Gadek state assemblyman Datuk M.S. Mahadevan said he was proud that a simple village boy was now the Chief Minister.

“I may be senior to him in terms of age but he probably has more experience than me,” he said.

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