Umno supreme council member Mohamed Nazri Aziz has encouraged PKR to continue the infighting within the party.

“Please quarrel more. Wash your dirty linen in public. We encourage this.

“The more problems you have, it is good for us,” he said in a press conference at the Tourism and Culture Ministry in Putrajaya today.

Nazri, who is also the tourism and culture minister, said this after announcing the Malaysia Tourism Awards nomination submissions for 2016-2017.

PKR leaders appear to be divided, especially over the negotiations with PAS, which saw William Leong resigning from PKR’s political bureau in protest of the talks.

PKR supreme council member Latheefa Koya had also openly criticised party vice-president Rafizi Ramli’s latest take on the removal of Abdul Khalid Ibrahim as Selangor menteri besar in 2014.

This prompted PKR deputy president Azmin Ali to urge party leaders to refrain from public bickering.

Nazri also said former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad should consult his conscience on whether he should apologise for his past transgressions.

“It is up to his conscience, because last time he was saying something else. Now he’s saying something else. So for those people whom he has offended, he should apologise,” he said.

During Mahathir’s 22-year tenure as prime minister, he had accumulated a long list of critics, who accused him of corruption, abuse of power and ruling with an iron fist.

Though some of his fiercest critics then have embraced him since he started his crusade against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, others still find it difficult to do so, asking if Mahathir is willing to apologise for his past deeds.

Yesterday, Mahathir had asked whether it is more important for him to say sorry first before he could take on Najib.

“We are now faced with a country which is on the verge of destruction because of an ‘individual’. So which is more important? Must I say sorry first, and only then I can fight Najib?

“Actually this is a small matter. The main thing is to fight kleptocracy in Malaysia,” Mahathir had said.

However, Nazri said, it does not matter to Umno whether the nonagenarian apologises or not, as they are “in the mood to fight”.

“If he doesn’t want to apologise it doesn’t matter, we will (still) fight against him. We are in the mood to fight.

“He can come in whatever form also we will fight him. Apologise, don’t apologise, we don’t care,” he said.

On a separate issue, Nazri said the newly-enforced tourism tax was progressing well.

Since it has only been seven days since its implementation, he said so far he does not have any updates on the tax.

“We anticipate some teething problems, but so far nothing to inform the public,” he said.

He also denied that there were foreigners refusing to pay the tourism tax at hotels, insisting that there was “no such thing”.

The nomination submissions for the Malaysia Tourism Awards 2016-2017 are now open, he announced at the press conference.

This year, there are 14 award categories such as Best Tourist Attraction, Best Hotel Services, Best Tourist Guide and Best Tourism Article.

Tourism industry players are encouraged to apply to earn recognition from the ministry.

The closing date for the nomination submissions is on Sept 30, 2017.

Interested parties can get the nomination forms from Tourism Malaysia offices and 22 Tourist Information Centres (TIC) in Malaysia. They can also access the tourism ministry website.