JOHOR BARU, Sept 27 — Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim today repeated his call for Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to step down after two years.

"Dr Mahathir needs to step down by next year and give way to PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to continue as prime minister as promised.

"Two years is enough and he should not stay any longer,” Hassan told reporters after attending a mooncake festival event in Plentong here tonight.

He was responding to news reports earlier today that reported Dr Mahathir as saying he expects to remain as the country’s prime minister for three years at most during a dialogue at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York yesterday.

Hassan, who is also the former Johor PKR chief, said that Dr Mahathir must keep his word if he wants to continue to be adored by Malaysians.

The Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal lawmaker also vowed to not "stay silent” if Dr Mahathir is still prime minister next year.

This is not Hassan’s first time calling for Dr Mahathir to step down as he echoed a similar call In August.

He said Dr Mahathir should step down and save the PH government from self-destruction.

The handing over of duties from the seventh prime minister to the eighth has been a constant news topic since the PH alliance took federal power in last year’s general election that unseated the then-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

Dr Mahathir was given the mandate by his PH allies to lead as prime minister before handing his position to Anwar, 72, who was at that time in prison.