However, he did not state when exactly Anwar would take over.

Mahathir told foreign journalists he was an “interim prime minister” and that the power transition, when it happened, would be smooth. He said he did not expect Anwar to make “radical changes” upon taking over.

According to the Straits Times, he said he would not see out a full term and would step aside after fixing problems PH “inherited” from the Barisan Nasional government.

ST quoted him as saying: “We will make most of the corrections within a period of two years, and after that I think the others will have less problems to face.”

Pressed on whether he meant two years in power or from now, he replied: “I don’t know whether it is three years or two years, but I am an interim prime minister.”

He said his government had dealt with corruption in the past year and would now focus on the economy.

“The fact is the previous government was totally corrupt. There is very little corruption now. People can do business with the government now without paying extra. That is a very important achievement that contributes towards the stability of the economy,” ST quoted him as saying.

“The key challenge is to restore the image of this country. We have a lot of people taking potshots at us, including the press and now social media, because they see us as a target,” Mahathir said.

The prime minister said there were hiccups in implementing some reforms because PH did not have the required support in Parliament to make constitutional changes or was short of funds due to the problems left by the previous administration.