He first contested in the general election three decades ago and won the seat with a handsome majority of of 23,481 votes on a Barisan Nasional ticket, defeating a DAP candidate.

Three decades later, Shahrir Abdul Samad is "quite happy" if he could opt not to run in the forthcoming elections, speculated to be held by early next year.

The main reason is the age factor, says the Umno's Johor Baru parliamentarian who turns 58 in November.

Although noting that he could not make the decision on his own, Shahrir told Malaysiakini in an interview last week that "I have my reservation of running again because I will be 59 next year."

"The problem is nothing wrong to be 59, but four years later I will be 63 and I would rather have someone younger to come in," the politician, who is married with one daughter, explained.

Long political career

The age of 59 may not be too old for some - it is also the average age of the current batch of Cabinet ministers according to a study.

But for Shahrir, he has had a long, colourful political career, having joined politics at 21 and later basked in the records of being the 'youngest' - political secretary, BN candidate and minister - once during his prime.

He had served as political secretary to two former prime ministers - Tun Abdul Razak and Tun Hussein Onn - and had also gone through the ups and downs in politics.

In 1988, he sprang a political upheaval by resigning as Johor Baru MP, only to re-contest his seat as an independent candidate following the Team A and Team B tussle in Umno. Shahrir was aligned with the B team led by former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

Shahrir won handsomely in that by-election but he returned to Umno the following year.

'I got my way'

The senior politician also confirmed he was offered a ministerial post in the last cabinet reshuffle in 2006 but declined the job as he opined that an ordinary parliamentarian could play an important role too.

"I think I can be useful outside," said Shahrir, who was the BN's Backbenchers Club head until he quit the post in a huff last year.

Despite the ups and downs in his political career, the maverick politician maintained that it however went "quite according to plan" and that he never aspires to become the premier one day.

"I don't think anything went wrong, it went quite according to plan although there was a moment when I was sacked from the Cabinet, but whatever it was, I think I got my way," he stressed.

If Shahrir were to call it a day in politics soon, he has something to keep him busy - his golf equipment company in Kuala Lumpur.

The company, which he called 'Saske' and so named after a combination of his initials (SAS) and the word 'key', has been in operation for 10 years.

The key was the independent symbol he used during the by-election in Johor Baru

He quipped that he chose to drop the 'y' so as not to make it "too obvious".

Q&A: General election 'not so soon'

Part One
Shahrir: Judicial hangover from 1988 crisis
Q&A: 'No strong reasons to sack Salleh'

Part Two
Shahrir: Records on vessel deal 'destroyed'
Q&A: Why must I do all the work?


Watch the eight-minute video here.