Culture and Tourism Minister Nazri Aziz said former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad's criticisms of his successor Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should be seen as "positive advice".

This, he said, is because Mahathir as the long-serving former PM cares about what is happening in this country.

"I am certain he (Mahathir) criticises because he is concerned. I think we should not see the criticism as something which he (Mahathir) does not like.

"I know Mahathir likes Najib. At least he likes Najib more than me," he said.

"We should view the criticism as something positive and after that we have to work harder. We accept what Mahathir says," Nazri ( left ) told reporters at when launching a new airlines at Subang Airport today.

Mahathir in an interview with Sinar Harian earlier this month said many people were qualified to replace Najib .

However, the outspoken veteran lamented that these were not from Umno, saying Umno would not let such talented individuals into the party.

He has been increasingly critical of Najib's policies and actions of late, for example over the latter's growing list of lawsuits against detractors and his controversial pet project 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

' RM20 nothing for Singaporeans'

Meanwhile, Nazri added that the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) would not affect local tourism.

He said this is because the money spent by tourists here can be reclaimed by them as in Europe.

“Definitely not, because we will reimburse them (tourists) back. When tourists come here, they would have to fill a GST form and we will reimburse the tax back.

“Like it is practised in Europe, where we fill a form and get back our money. GST would not have any effect on tourism,” he said today.

Nazri said tourism will not be affected due to the RM20 charge on foreign-registered vehicles coming in from Singapore through Johor.

He said this was because the charge was reasonable.

He added that the decision done was not to “counter” to the price hikes implemented by Singapore and in fact welcomed the neighbour’s decision on increasing the charges.

“I feel for a Singaporean, RM20 is nothing. The charge is not to counter their charges on our cars; we understand that they want to control the traffic there.

“But personally, as a minister, I feel the action by Singapore to charge Malaysian cars is a good move. The higher the charge, the better it is.

“Because then Malaysians will spend money here and not go there any more. So, thank you, Singapore government,” said Nazri.

The Transport Ministry announced yesterday that foreign vehicles entering Johor from Singapore will be charged a Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) fee of RM20 from the middle of next year.

The move follows Singapore’s announcement to raise its VEP charge from S$20 (RM51.34) to S$30 (RM89.85) on foreign vehicles entering from Malaysia, effective since August 1.