As the year closes, it is time to confront a harsh truth: the older generation has long extracted from Malaysia more than it has given back, and the burden now falls on the young to rebuild a nation they did not inherit equally.
For decades, wealth, land, and opportunity flowed disproportionately to those in power, while public resources, institutions, and social protections were hollowed out. Housing, healthcare, and education — once collective achievements — were increasingly commodified, while political and business elites consolidated influence. The older generation prospered; the young now inherit stagnation and inequality.
Yet, too often, young Malaysians are told to “be patient” or “work harder.” These platitudes mask a harsh reality: the system was designed to maintain privilege, not fairness. The older generation must stop hoarding wealth and influence, step aside from entrenched networks, and allow space for renewal.
But the truth is unavoidable: the generation that built Malaysia’s old economic model is no longer able to solve the crises that model now produces. And the young—everyday workers, students, gig workers, and new families—are paying the price.
Many Malaysians today are not asking for handouts. We are asking for fairness.
This isn’t hallucinations — it is reality backed by data. The economic data makes one thing painfully clear: the system is not working for us.
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia, youth unemployment for those aged 15–30 remains at about 6.3%—more than twice the national rate—showing how difficult it still is for young people to enter stable work (DOSM, Malaysian Economic Statistics Review, 2025). And for those who do find jobs, stagnant wages continue to undermine their futures. The World Bank reports that income growth has slowed and real wages have barely moved, leaving many young workers feeling “left behind” despite working full-time (Aspirations Unfulfilled, World Bank).
Even for families who work hard, the system is stacked against them. The bottom 20% of Malaysians hold less than 6% of national income, according to new World Bank–linked analysis—barely enough to move up even with two incomes (Malay Mail, Feb 2025). This is not a failure of individuals; it is the outcome of an economy designed to concentrate gains at the top while asking those below to bear rising costs alone.
The pressure is real. UNICEF Malaysia shows that low-income households struggle to meet basic needs, with many experiencing absolute material deprivation (Living on the Edge, 2024). And according to economic analysts cited in The Star, rising living costs have pushed workers—even those with steady jobs—into taking on secondary or part-time work simply to keep up with daily expenses (The Star, Dec 2024).
The evidence speaks for itself: Malaysia’s economic model is failing young people, working families, and the future workforce.
The older generation has spent decades extracting value from a system that no longer protects the average citizen. They may have built the Malaysia of the past—but they cannot build the Malaysia of the future. That responsibility, and that right, must shift into the hands of the generation currently carrying the weight of rising living costs, low wages, and shrinking opportunities.
Renewal and reform cannot come from the top; it must rise from the organizing, imagination, and courage of youth.
As we move into the next five years, here is what must happen at the grassroots level:
- Workers, students, and young families must organise — in workplaces, communities, and campuses.
- Push for policies grounded in lived reality: living wages, affordable housing, universal healthcare, and fair public transport.
- Build multiracial solidarity around class issues, not elite-driven narratives.
- Hold leaders accountable when policies fail ordinary people, no matter which party they come from.
- Strengthen unions, tenants’ groups, and community committees as vehicles for collective power.
As this year ends, let us acknowledge what has been extracted — and commit to rebuilding. If the next five years are seized, the coming decade can be defined by justice, opportunity, and collective care.
If the next generation does not claim its place, the same system will continue extracting until nothing is left to rebuild.
Malaysia’s future depends on the people who will live through the next decade. If we want a fairer, more secure, and more caring Malaysia, then the next generation must lead — not someday, but starting now.
Let the coming decade be built from the ground up, by the people who carry its hopes.
Noor Khairil Azhar