Dear Prime Minister Dato' Seri Dr Mahathir Mohammad,

I was shocked, transfixed, and outraged to know that a renowned international magazine, the Business Week , had the nerve to threaten to tarnish the good name of our great and beloved nation with the most devious innuendos after you had declined an interview with them.

Being a loyal citizen of Malaysia (although I have failed to join either the army or the police), I applaud your courage to have exposed the despicable move of the international publication.

Dear prime minister, you have been cautiously and diligently guiding Malaysians onto the path of development and enlightenment for the last two decades; we once lived in darkness, much like the benighted of the millennia past, without hopes and prospects; but now our eyes have been opened to the brave new world, and our lives instilled with inspirations, dreams and promises, all thanks to your farsighted and visionary leadership. If there should be a national figure deserving of remembrance by the generations to come, it has to be you.

You have also jealously guarded us against the negative influences of the Western media, who are like lions prowling around, waiting to devour us the innocent and ignorant Malaysians anytime. As you are retiring and handing over the country to your deputy, it is only right and proper for you to once again remind us of the hidden agenda of the so-called independent international media.

This has surely prompted me to ponder: how are we to carry on without your benevolent dictatorship (to quote your own words)? I am certain you will be sorely missed.

In fact, we do not need Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar to stress that, as a prime minister of 22 years and a statesman, you do not tell lies. I trust that the letter does exist, and that your claims about its content are well founded. I have faith in your integrity, totally.

But still, dear Dr Mahathir, it would do you no harm if you would disclose the content of the letter by Business Week , so that the whole world would come know how low this publication has stooped in order to smear a peaceful, progressive and forward-looking nation like Malaysia.

The whole country may be foursquare behind you, but the international community may not. Thus, showing the letter to the public would only boost your moral stature and strengthen your credibility.

So, my beloved prime minister, would I be given the privilege to take a glimpse at the actual content of the arrogant letter by Business Week ?