In 2003, former New Straits Times group editor-in-chief Abdullah Ahmad was unceremoniously sacked from his job. The reason given by Umno president and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was that one of Abdullah Ahmad's commentaries in the NST was seen to be critical of the Saudi Arabian government had damaged diplomatic relation between Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.

Now, the Saudi Arabian government and its ruling elite have been widely and rightly criticised by media all over the world, including in the United States and Malaysia for its parsimony and indifference in the case of tsunami relief efforts.

What's Abdullah Ahmad Badawi going to say and do now? Sacked all media editors and journalists in Malaysia who have covered or written about the worldwide criticisms against Saudi Arabia?

Call for a boycott of all the non-Malaysian media all over the world which did the same? If not, how can we say Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is a fair and disinterested person?

In any case, the worldwide criticisms against Saudi Arabia show that the Saudi ruling elite (and for that matter, any ruling elite in the Middle East and Islamic world) are not gods. They can be criticised by any free and independent media in the world.

Their words, deeds and policies are subject to public scrutiny - even in Malaysia - if and when they affect our interests and values.

So, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must not act like a Saudi lobbyist. He is a Malaysian prime minister and elected by Malaysian voters and paid for by Malaysian taxpayers to serve only the interest and values of Malaysia and Malaysians.

Abdullah Ahmad has always been a Malaysian and what he wrote about Saudi Arabia is true: the majority of terrorists who crashed their jets on Sept 11, 2001 in Washington DC and New York were Saudi nationals. So is Osama bin Laden.