There was never a two-year transition plan for the top post in Malaysia, claimed Minister of Youth and Sports Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.

Mahathir not obliged to hand power to Anwar after two years

In a lengthy Facebook post on Monday, Sep. 30, Syed Saddiq said he was among those in the presidential council who was present when the agreement was signed.

The agreement refers to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) consensus document that was agreed on by all key leaders.

However, the 26-year-old said there was "no mention of a two-year timeline for the transition of the post in the agreement".

This means Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is not obliged to hand power over to Anwar Ibrahim in about two years after winning the election.

According to Malay Mail, he said: “If there isn’t, why the lies to the people? Why push Tun Dr Mahathir to step down when we never agreed to such a thing?"

What's the agreement about?

The agreement paved the way for Mahathir to be nominated as the prime ministerial candidate for the PH coalition, and stated that Anwar would succeed Mahathir as the next prime minister should PH win the election.

However, there was no stipulated timeline mentioned in the document, according to an earlier report by Malaysiakini.

Defence of Mahathir comes after criticisms

Syed Saddiq's defence of Mahathir came after Syed Husin Ali, deputy chairman of the advisory council of Anwar's People's Justice Party (PKR), criticised Mahathir for not laying out a clear transition plan.

The criticism was in response to Mahathir saying recently in New York that he expected to remain PM for "three years", and did not specify an exact date, but said that it would be before the next election.

According to Free Malaysia Today, Syed Husin, who was one of the pioneer members of the PKR, said he could not hold Mahathir to his word because sometimes Mahathir "says this, other times he says that.

He opined that Anwar has to be made prime minister before the next election which is due to take place in 2023, saying the PKR president has to be given at least two years to plan and campaign.

"If we wait until the 15th general election for the takeover, that would destroy the party (PKR) and kill Pakatan Harapan," he said.

"There would be no time to campaign. He must prepare."

Syed Saddiq defends Mahathir further

Syed Husin had also slammed Mahathir's overseas trips, saying they were a waste of money.

However, Syed Saddiq said these trips resulted in "great achievements" that were pulled off only because of the "hard work" of Mahathir and the civil servants, such as the negotiation of the East Coast Rail Link with China.

Furthermore, Syed Saddiq questioned if Anwar should also shoulder some blame if Mahathir is to be blamed for past mistakes, since Anwar was Mahathir's deputy before he was sacked in 1998.

Mahathir: Will not take more than three years

Mahathir's nomination as prime minister in the 2018 election was based on an agreement within PH that he will eventually pass on the role to Anwar.

Previously, he said he would hand power over to Anwar after around two years as per an "agreement" by the four parties that made up the ruling PH coalition, Bernama reported.

However, he later said he "will not go beyond three years".

Top image via Syed Saddiq's Facebook page