The exodus begins as Kalimullah leaves NST

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 — One of Malaysia’s most well-known and often controversial media bosses, Datuk Seri Kalimullah Hassan, the deputy chairman of the New Straits Times Press (NSTP), has tendered his resignation from the company.

Known to be close to Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, he becomes the first of a host of executives in Umno- and government-linked companies who are likely to be leaving in the next few months because of changes in Umno’s leadership.

The Edge Financial Daily, quoting sources, reported today that Kalimullah had submitted his resignation to the NSTP board on Sept 3.

If accepted by the board, the resignation takes effect on Dec 31.

The newspaper said Kalimullah had expressed his desire to leave many times in the past, but it added that it was unclear if the resignation now is tied to Abdullah’s impending departure as Umno president.

Kalimullah joined NSTP in 2003 as its group editor-in-chief before relinquishing that post in 2006 to become deputy chairman.

During his tenure, he turned the New Straits Times from a broadsheet to a tabloid to try to arrest sliding sales.

But his tenure will be remembered more for the accusations levelled against him by critics of the Abdullah administration.

Former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad made Kalimullah a constant target of his attacks, claiming the newspaper had been used to silence him and other critics of Abdullah.

Other Umno leaders had also been upset with Kalimullah for a host of reasons, including the fact that he allowed the newspaper to break certain stories like the Royal Commission of Inquiry’s findings on the V.K. Lingam video, which some in government had hoped to suppress.

But ultimately, Kalimullah, like many of Abdullah’s close associates are being blamed for the ruling Barisan Nasional’s poor performance.

There remains a general consensus among many in Umno that the New Straits Times had not been used to promote Umno and BN adequately enough.

Besides Kalimullah, the NSTP had also recently announced the impending departure of its chief executive officer Datuk Syed Faisal Albar.

There are also likely to be changes within the next few months in other media companies linked to Umno like Media Prima, which operates all of the country’s free-to-air television channels.

With Datuk Seri Najib Razak looking like the front-runner to become the next Umno president, figures close to him are likely to be put in place in the Umno-linked media companies soon.

-TMI