The issue of ' Dr M and Bush: Rebuke or no rebuke? ' all boils down to our understanding of the nuances of spoken English.

In the English-speaking world, if you do something that goes against the norms of accepted behaviour, you will be told off (rebuked?) in the most diplomatic way usually beginning with the words "I'm sorry to have to say this to you..." In this context, "I'm sorry" is not an apology but a rebuke.

This reminds me of a very well-known Malaysian contractor in the old British days who once said, "When an Englishman rebukes you, you do not feel the rebuke immediately because it is cloaked in such nice polite language. It only hurts when you think about it at night."

That is what is happening to the Bush-Mahathir rebuke controversy. Unfortunately, it is the younger generations of Malaysians who are going to have to live with the consequences of the outgoing PM's ill-judged and obviously racist and divisive remarks.