Mahathir dismisses handover timeline saying tough to have a quit date

Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says a fixed period for his resignation would make it ‘difficult for me to work.”

In an interview with BFM, a business radio channel in Malaysia, the elderly statesman says he will keep his promises to hand over power, but at the same time he needs to ensure that the country is back on its feet before handing the reins of power.

“I promised I would be interim PM. I will do so. I keep my promise.”

He says giving him a fixed timeline will make it harder for him to achieve his goals.

“Because I have to make sure I solve most of the major problems before handover. A fixed period is difficult for me to work,” he says.

Taking swipes at Najib Razak, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he will not have any new ministers in his cabinet.

Though he did not mention Najib by name, he said Malaysia had a new PM but he was not good.

“A new minister doesn’t mean good minister. We had a new prime minister we thought was going to be good but no, he wasn’t good also.”

He dismissed rumours he will have a cabinet reshuffle to include new ministers to fend-off criticism several ministers are allegedly underperforming.

He said he only has new MP’s who have no ministerial experience, and, this means changing a minister with one year experience, will not be good.

“Well the next prime minister might have his own Cabinet. When you reshuffle the Cabinet, it creates problems and doesn’t solve problems. It creates more problems. That’s why I’m not keen on solving problems by changing people.

“I changed people before. I stepped down. And then I was asked to come back,” he says.

He also told the radio channel his next successor, whom he did not name during the interview, will most likely create his own Cabinet. -/TISG