PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is confident he will succeed Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister by next year.
In an interview with Bloomberg yesterday, the PKR president said he expects the transition to take place around May, two years after Pakatan Harapan (PH) won federal power, but said he was not too absorbed about the date.
“There’s an understanding that it should be around that time (May), but I don’t think I should be too petty about the exact month,” he was quoted as saying.
“The understanding is that Mahathir will resign and that I should assume it (the role),” he added.
Anwar said he does not foresee any significant challenge to the succession plan and expects a smooth transition, despite speculations that Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali will be considered for the prime minister’s position.
“There’s no sign of any party introducing or promoting or lobbying for other names,” he said.
The Port Dickson MP however acknowledged that there are bound to be individuals who will be out to impede the agreed transition plan from taking place, but assured that this would not happen.
“This to me is quite irrelevant. Whether it has been discussed, whether it has been given legitimacy, the answer is no,” he said.
Prior to the general election last year, there was an agreement among the PH parties for the handover of premiership to take place within two years.
However, Mahathir has yet to fix a firm date for the transition, but has maintained that he would keep to his promise to hand over the baton to Anwar before the term ends.
On Tuesday, Mahathir said it was hard for him to set a date as it would affect his focus and efforts in addressing crucial national issues.
“I have to make sure that I have solved most of the major problems before I hand things over. So a fixed period makes it very difficult for me to work,” he had said.
