A Nov 25 news report quoted Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar as saying that "foreign governments have been reminded that articles which appear in local newspapers do not necessarily reflect the official stand of the Malaysian government".

Syed Hamid was reportedly asked to comment on the allegation that the reason for the summary dismissal of Abdullah Ahmad, the former editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times , last Thursday was that he wrote an article on Saudi Arabia which was deemed to be offensive to that foreign government in the Middle East.