Without spelling it out, Dr Mahathir Mohamad noted that his age rendered the debate on whether he should be named as Pakatan Harapan's choice of prime minister on an interim basis or otherwise pointless.

“I am 92 years old, this year, I will be 93. Obviously, I am not going to be whatever, prime minister or whatever until I am 100 years old,” he told reporters in Putrajaya this morning.

Pressed on whether Harapan should use the term “interim prime minister”, he replied: “It is up to them (component parties). We are a free group, we can use whatever word we want...”