Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who will be 72 in December, has indicated he has no early plans to retire.
And if he has a date for stepping down in mind, he is not yet ready to disclose it.
In an interview with CNN, he was asked whether he planned to stay on as Prime Minister for many more years and what would happen to Malaysia after his departure.
Sidestepping the first part of the question, Dr Mahathir said he did not think anything would change very radically just because he was not around.
'I have a very co-operative and cohesive leadership,' he said.
'In Malaysia for the past 40 years, we have had successions of leaders without any real upheaval.' But he gave the impression that the next leadership change was still some years away, keeping the focus on himself rather than his nominated successor, the Deputy Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, whom he neither named nor praised.
'Now I have designated my successor, there should not be a problem,' he said in a less than ringing endorsement of Mr Anwar.