Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said nothing will make him back out of the debate with former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Nazri said he would not budge even if he was in a similar scenario as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who previously had to cancel his highly-anticipated debate with Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

"Why should I? I am Nazri Aziz, you should know me better, I am not Rahman Dahlan," he told Malaysiakini when contacted.

Last April, Abdul Rahman called off his debate with Lim on the Taman Manggis land issue on the advice of the police and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission as the matter was under investigation.

Abdul Rahman was the urban wellbeing, housing and local government minister at that time. The debate was to be broadcast on TV3.

Nazri said the only way his debate will be cancelled was if Mahathir backed out.

"It (the debate) is on. If it is off, it is because Mahathir called it off, not me.

"Don't listen to people saying that I will back out at the eleventh hour," said Nazri.

When asked if their debate should also be telecast live on television, Nazri said it is up to Mahathir's team to make the arrangements.

"It's up to him. He is the one who challenged me. I just make myself present," Nazri, who has been a staunch Mahathir critic, said.

Nazri added that he was not concerned about the health issues of his 91-year-old opponent during the debate in his stronghold of Padang Rengas on March 25.

"It's just a debate. I am not going to fight with him (physically). He (Mahathir) used to be my boss," he said.

However, Nazri said he would treat Mahathir "nicely" but would not roll out the red carpet for him as the former prime minister had declined.

Any topic is fair game during the debate, Nazri said, adding that he already knows Mahathir wants to talk about the Bumiputera Malaysia Finance (BMF) scandal, 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion donation issue.

Previously, Mahathir and Nazri had challenged each other to contest in Padang Rengas and Langkawi respectively in the upcoming general election.

Mahathir later said he had no intention of contesting in the general election, and challenged Nazri to a debate instead.

Nazri, who is in Berlin and will return on March 13, had accepted the debate unconditionally.