Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad (born July 4, 1937) is a Malaysian journalist and a politician. At one time, he was the editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times.
On November 12, 2003, he wrote an article criticizing Saudi Arabian policies that aided the United States invasion of Iraq, among other things. As a result, the Saudi government reduced Malaysian quota for haj.[1] On November 21 of the same year, he "was fired without warning by the daily’s management at the request of the ruling UMNO party following a complaint by the Saudi ambassador in Malaysia." UMNO, which is part of the ruling government and holding equity in the papers later stated that he had jeopardized Malaysia's close relationship with Saudi Arabia. He had a contract that was supposed to expire in October 2004.[2]
Previously, he was close to the then Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.