The New Straits Times will not publish a letter written by a personal aide of ex-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who voiced his dissatisfaction over a column which appeared in the English daily a week ago.

When contacted, a senior editor at the NST stated that the daily had "absolute discretion in the publication of opinion letters".

The unpublished letter , which was written in response to a column written by the daily's deputy group editor, Brendan Pereira, was dated June 26 - the same day the column appeared - and has since been widely circulated on the Internet.

In the letter, Sufi Yusoff, a personal aide to the former prime minister since 1998, had criticised the column, entitled 'Turning to what works best in dire situations', which included a commentary on Mahathir's June 24 public meeting in Kuala Lumpur.

Among those who were present at the controversial function were a few top opposition PAS leaders.

The column had lambasted the former prime minister for using a formula of "tossing half-truths and known facts into a mix and allowing the combination to emit its own stench".

Sufi, in his letter, argued that it was unfair for Pereira to attack Mahathir for speaking at a function that the daily had not provided news coverage for.

"This seems to be a new approach by NST and Mr Pereira," said Sufi, adding that the daily's deputy group editor could not justify such remarks as "he had not been present at the event."

Front-page report

Sufi also added that "neither an NST reporter nor Pereira" were present at an earlier, more controversial press conference by Mahathir at the Perdana Leadership Foundation on June 7 where the ex-PM launched a blistering attack on his hand-picked successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

"Yet the NST chose to publish a front-page report of the event on its June 8 publication carrying Mr Pereira's byline," said Sufi.

"In that report, Mr Pereira's introduction was filled with commentaries and was quite descriptive in Dr Mahathir's so-called outbursts, dramatising the whole press conference," he said.

He added that the daily, as a mainstream newspaper, had denied its readers an opportunity to independently assess the situation by not reporting the event.

"How is it then that the group editor sees it fit to disparage the former prime minister by attacking him in a column based on an event that the NST did not even publish?" said Sufi.

In his column, published last Monday, Pereira had described Mahathir's tirade of attacks on Prime Minister Abdullah as a "creature of habits, turning to what works best for them" when "their backs are against the wall and when they feel the have nothing to lose."

He had also liken such responses by politicians to footballers as they are about to shoot to score.