DR Mahathir Mohamad once again said he would stick to his promise to hand over power to his successor as soon as the country becomes stable.

He said he will not remain as the prime minister for a full term as urged by some quarters, including the opposition.

Dr Mahathir also joked that he would stand his ground to step down unless he was forced to remain in power.

“Unless someone pushes me to a corner and put a gun to my head and ask me to complete the term.

“Otherwise, I will stick to my promise and step down,” he told reporters in jest after an event in Putrajaya.

He said this in response to news reports that opposition leaders from Umno, PAS and GPS had met him earlier this week to urge him to stay on for a full term.

The group allegedly told Dr Mahathir that they have his back and he should finish his term without handing over the mantle to Anwar Ibrahim midway.

Previously, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had repeatedly and publicly backed Dr Mahathir to complete his term.

He had said the dominance of non-Muslim leaders in the ruling coalition made it necessary for Dr Mahathir to continue as prime minister.

Hadi said though Dr Mahathir is a leader of a minority party, the Bersatu chairman had said many things to defend Islam.

Under a Pakatan Harapan agreement, Dr Mahathir is supposed to hand over power to PKR president Anwar although no timeline has been officially fixed.

It was previously reported that the handover will take place after two years but more recently Dr Mahathir had said that he would step aside after seeing through the country’s rough patch which had been caused by Barisan Nasional’s misrule and mismanagement.

He had also repeatedly said that he would stick to his promise to give way for Anwar to take over. – August 1, 2019.