I refer to your report NST, editor under fire in Parliament.

I can sympathise with the many Malaysians who feel happy that Umno's mouthpiece is being publicly criticised for its unprofessional running of a daily newspaper.

However, there are two sides to the coin - if the New Straits Times and its editors had not been protected by politicians and by vested interests in high places, it could not have become so insolent and irresponsible.

Seen in this light, Umno itself must also bear the social and political responsibility of having given birth to a class of insolent scripts who think that as long as they do not attack the prime minister and senior ministers, they can do anything they like to others, be they in the opposition or Barisan Nasional.

The NST has thus been bred to think of itself as a state within a state.

The best solution is for Umno to dis-invest from the NST and publicly disown it so that it can become truly independent and better compete with other newspapers and mass media.

Also, it is important for the government to issue more publication licences for independent media operators like malaysiakini to act as check and balance against the New Straits Times.

The NST must understand that nowadays, not even the prime minister, his senior ministers or his cronies are powerful enough to protect the country's largest media organisation. It would be more smart to become independent and gain popular support by balanced and fair reporting.