Malaysia’s Communications Ministry is holding an internal inquiry into its public broadcaster, RTM, for misidentifying three ASEAN leaders, including Thailand’s, during its live broadcast of the ASEAN Summit’s opening ceremony on October 26.
Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said yesterday that the ministry has been instructed to conduct a thorough review of the incident and take the necessary action to avoid a repetition.
"It is an internal investigation, but it will be managed at the ministerial level by the deputy secretary-general. We will give it some time," he said, according to The Star Online.
Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) had mistakenly identified the leaders of Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia during the telecast.
On air, its commentator misidentified Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong as his predecessor Lee Hsien Loong, and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul as Srettha Thavisin, who was removed from office last year.
Earlier that day, the broadcaster also got the name of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto wrong, identifying him as Joko Widodo, his predecessor.
The first apology to be issued was for the mistake over the name of the Indonesian president, followed by similar apologies to the Singaporean and Thai leaders later in the day.
“RTM views this matter seriously and appropriate action has been taken,” one of the statements read.
It apologised to the current prime ministers, their governments and all affected parties and said that RTM will “continue to strengthen editorial control and fact-checking to ensure all information conveyed is accurate and upholds integrity.”
“There may be elements of governance or discipline involved, which we will refer to the relevant committee to handle the matter,” said Fahmi.
