Anwar Ibrahim, leader of the PKR and Mahathir Mohamad's publicly-claimed successor, has refuted Mahathir's characterisation that there has been "no discussion" about the transition of power.

On Oct. 3, speaking to the press in Shah Alam, Anwar said these discussions were held before the 2018 general election in which Pakatan Harapan coalition won power.

However, he said that no exact date for the transition had been settled on, and would be decided "later".

This was at odds with a recent Bloomberg interview, in which he said he expected to take power in May 2020.

Anwar: There were discussions

Anwar said, as per Malay Mail: "I am satisfied with his continued assurance. I guarantee that he will honour the promise of surrendering power to me."

Anwar added that his stance was that the date should not be revealed publicly yet, as this would render Mahathir's current position as prime minister "quite ineffective".

But he insisted that he had discussed the matter with Mahathir, as they have been meeting on a weekly basis:

"There were discussions, although they may be open to interpretation. To suggest there was no discussion is not quite right."

DPM Wan Azizah: This is a non-issue

Anwar's wife, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, also stated that there is already a mutual agreement on the transfer of power between prime minister Mahathir and her husband, Malaysiakini reported.

As per Wan Azizah, on Oct. 3: "There is already a mutual agreement. So what more is there to discuss?"

She further stressed that the matter of the handover was a non-issue that had been brought up repeatedly and only served as a distraction from more pressing issues, The Malay Mail reported.

She said: "This is a non-issue but when it is repeatedly brought upon, it rises. We have many other issues, such as trying to mend the country. Enough!"

Handover is a non-issue that has been brought up repeatedly

Their remarks came in the wake of comments by Mahathir on the same day, in which he stated that the transition of power had never been discussed and that it would be difficult to pin down a specific date for the handover.

Malaysiakini further reported that Wan Azizah also refused to comment on criticism by Anwar’s party member, PKR advisory council deputy chairman Syed Husin Ali, apart from describing it as his personal opinion.

On Sep. 28, Syed Husin slammed the lack of an official date for Mahathir’s handover to Anwar as prime minister, and accused Mahathir of reneging on his promise.

He said, "Will Mahathir, who has been proven to be a sly leader and skilled at twisting facts, be allowed to continue to deceive the people?"

Syed Saddiq: There has been no mention of a timeline

Syed Husin was subsequently criticised by Minister of Youth and Sports Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman, who said that Mahathir will honour his promise to step down before the next general election, on Sep. 30.

Syed Saddiq added, however, that there was "no mention of a two-year timeline for the transition of the post in the agreement".

The agreement refers to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) consensus document that was agreed on by all key leaders, and stated that Anwar would succeed Mahathir should PH win the election.

Previously, on Sep. 18, Anwar said that he expected to take over as prime minister as early as 2020.

More details on Mahathir's ambiguity about the handover:

Top image from Anwar Ibrahim Facebook.