At almost 93 years of age, Dr Mahathir Mohamad does not believe that his second stint in the prime minister's office will be for long should Pakatan Harapan win the next general election.
"I can't stay for very long. At the most, I can last for two years," Mahathir said in an interview with Japan's Mainichi newspaper, which was published today.
Mahathir, who sat in office for 22 years before retiring in 2003, was appointed as Harapan's candidate for prime minister at the coalition's convention in January.
In the interview with the Japanese daily, the nonagenarian reiterated his intent to pass the torch to his deputy-turned-nemesis-turned-ally Anwar Ibrahim, and seek a royal pardon for the latter.
"We will try. We will do our best to get a royal pardon," he said.
A royal pardon is necessary for Anwar to hold office, as he is barred from standing for elections for five years due to his soon-to-end jail term.
Meanwhile, in the rest of the interview, Mahathir chastised Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's administration for allegedly being too close to China.
"He (Najib) sees China as a source of funds which he could borrow. But when you borrow and cannot pay, you are going to be in trouble.
"(In my time) Malaysia's policy was neutral. We were friendly with every country. Whether China or Japan or Korea or America. We were friendly. If they do something wrong, we feel we have the right to criticise them," he said.
China has made a number of high profile investments in Malaysia over the past several years, leading critics like Mahathir to claim that Najib was undermining the country's sovereignty to secure funds.- Mkini
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