NOVEMBER 13 — Every generation believes the one after it has it easier, and the one before it simply does not understand. Older Malaysians complain that the young are fragile, impatient and glued to their phones. Younger Malaysians roll their eyes at “boomers” who lecture them about hard work while owning homes they bought decades ago. Both caricatures contain a grain of truth. Both are also, in the end, unfair.

I am 62, a senior citizen and a person with disability. I have lived long enough to see the world change several times over, and I have learned that most of what we call a generation gap is really a gap in circumstances.

I grew up in Kuala Rompin, Pahang, where I learned Jawi from my late father and read Utusan Melayu in Jawi script from the age of four. Libraries were my second home. After an intensive English course at ITM, I was sent to New Zealand, where I studied at the University of Waikato and followed the 1984 general election closely as a student.