PUTRAJAYA, June 24 — PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim remains confident he will succeed Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, despite the prime minister now saying that he will remain in office for three years.

Anwar reiterated that he does not doubt his succession plans as he said there is a solid understanding and agreement between him and Dr Mahathir.

"There is no issue on the transition plans. What matters is that what has been promised will be fulfilled.

"The question of the timing and other details is between us and whoever is the prime minister should be given the space to administer the country without interference,” said Anwar at a press conference here today.

Earlier today, US-based CNBC reported that Dr Mahathir said he would not go beyond three years in office and is giving the priority to enable Malaysia to "resolve the debt problem”, even after he steps down.

Before the 14th general election last year, Dr Mahathir previously said he would only stay as PM for a maximum of two years.

Anwar had yesterday reiterated the narrative of a smooth transition process and said he did not doubt that Dr Mahathir would hand power to him as PH had promised in the 2018 general election.

Meanwhile, the Port Dickson MP today attended the presentation of an appreciation allowance to seven national laureates.

The Finance Ministry had approved additional allocation requested by the Education Ministry to deliver the lifetime allowance, in which each national laureate receives RM5,000 every month starting this month.

Its minister Lim Guan Eng said future national laureates will receive such an allowance as well.

The seven national laureates are Datuk Seri A. Samad Said, Muhammad Salleh, Datuk Noordin Hassan, Datuk Anwar Ridhwan, Datuk Ahmad Khamal Abdullah, Datuk Baharuddin Zainal and Datuk Zurinah Hassan.