Business Week

has apologised to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for sending him a letter which allegedly 'threatened' him into providing an interview with the New York-based magazine.

The apology made via a letter dated Sept 12, was written by its managing editor Robert Dowling.

"I am writing to apologise for any offence taken from a letter sent to you by our correspondent last week," he had said in the letter according to a Bernama report.

Dowling explained that the offending letter was sent by the magazine's Hong Kong-based correspondent as a last-minute attempt to get Mahathir to comment on a story about his legacy and the transition of power.

48-hour deadline

Last week, Mahathir lambasted the Western media after revealing that he had received a threatening letter from one of Business Week 's corespondents.

The premier said the journalist had given him a 48-hour deadline to respond to the allegations of cronyism and corruption in the country.

"They wanted to interview me but I have no wish to be interviewed by Business Week because the last time they did it they told a lot of lies.

"So now they have sent me a letter threatening me that if I don't see them or respond to their allegations they are going to write all sorts of nonsense and nasty things about cronyism, oppression, dictatorship and all that," he added.

Ad pullout

Following this, Deputy Home Minister Chor Chee Hueng warned that the government would ban foreign publications that aimed to sabotage Malaysia.

He also said that police action against the magazine was being deliberated.

On Tuesday, the state-owned national carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) said it may drop an advertising campaign in the magazine, estimated to be worth about RM1.52 million.

Business Week

is published in New York by McGraw-Hill Companies. The Asia edition of Business Week has a reported weekly circulation of more than 60,000, the bulk of this being Malaysians.