Zaid Ibrahim is far from impressed with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's announcement that the prototype for Malaysia's third national car is completed.

The Kelantan DAP chairperson expressed his disappointment on Twitter, especially when 300,000 people in his home state do not have pipe water.

Zaid also indicated that perhaps his call for US President Donald Trump to resign should have been made closer to home.

“Now we have three national cars and 300,000 Kelantanese don't have pipe water. And there I was asking Trump to step down,” he tweeted this afternoon.

Speaking to Malaysiakini later, Zaid said this is the reason he is excited about the Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting tonight, which is expected to discuss the transition of power between Mahathir and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

“Why am I excited about tonight's pow-pow amongst Harapan leaders? Because I want balance, the people of this country want balance.

“Balance on what we spend in the cities and what we spend in the villages, balance between money for 5Gs and money on septic tanks,” he added.

Therefore, Zaid is hoping that the next leader would be able to strike this balance.

“My small hope is that a new leader will have a new balance and a new perspective of what the people need

“A new leader who is not an icon or a visionary, just a simple good man,” he added.

Dewan Rakyat the ultimate decider

Mahathir has repeatedly said he would step down after the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in November and keep his promise to pass the leadership reins to Anwar.

However, in a recent interview, Mahathir said the Dewan Rakyat would be the ultimate decider on who should lead the nation and observers viewed this as a hint that Anwar might not have the support of the Lower House.

Last week, Anwar confirmed the existence of a plot to keep Mahathir in power until the next general election but said the latter was not involved.

He claimed that those behind this plot are PAS as well as those in Umno and PKR.

After launching the National Automotive Policy (NAP) 2020 in Kuala Lumpur earlier today, Mahathir said the prototype would not be exhibited to the public until an investor is acquired.

As the "car of the future", Mahathir said the third national car would be fitted with modern technology suitable for upcoming needs.