DR MAHATHIR Mohamad has reiterated that he will not stay a full term as the prime minister despite speculation. 

“I have made my promise and I will keep to my promise. Whatever anyone else says, it’s their own opinion. It’s not mine,” said the 94-year-old on the sidelines of Bersatu’s EGM in Serdang today.

Dr Mahathir was responding to a suggestion that he stay a full term instead of handing over the reins to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, his former nemesis in Umno, had also proposed that Dr Mahathir continue to see out his full term.

The Gua Musang MP said any move to replace him in haste will have a negative impact on the country and the people.

Although Dr Mahathir has made his stand several times, the question often crops up as to when he would hand over to Anwar. 

According to media reports, the Pakatan Harapan leadership is widely believed to have agreed to a two-year timeline from May 2018.

Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir is hopeful that the party will hold its first-ever elections this year.

“We have not fixed the date but we hope to be able to do it this year,” said the Bersatu chairman.

The elections dates, however, have not been finalised after the 899 delegates voted in favour of amending the party constitution to allow for elections to be postponed for a period of up to 18 months.

Dr Mahathir’s son, Mukhriz, who is the deputy president, later explained to reporters that the party will not have one-man-one-vote to elect national leaders.

“They can do it at the branch and division levels but the party is not yet ready to do it on a national level.

“In order to run a one-man-one-vote system, all the branches and divisions would have to hold simultaneous meetings. Who, then, would be the election committee?” said Mukhriz, who headed the party’s amendments committee.

He said the party was also unlikely to hold elections this year as it needed to sort out its membership rolls.

“There are members that need to be placed in branches and we have to clean up the membership roll. I will have to see the progress of this before notifying the central committee whether we can have elections this year,” he said. – July 20, 2019.