KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — Singapore and Indonesia have accepted an apology from Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) following the misidentification of their leaders during the ‘live’ broadcast of the 47th Asean Summit at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) recently.
According to Utusan Malaysia, RTM Director-General Datuk Suhaimi Sulaiman said he met with representatives from the Indonesian delegation and Singapore’s High Commissioner to Malaysia, Vanu Gopala Menon, yesterday to provide an official explanation and apology.
He added that both parties received the apology positively and understood that the errors were unintentional.
“We have conveyed an official apology, and they accepted it with full understanding. It was an unintentional mistake, and we deeply regret it.
“The High Commissioner of Singapore also appreciated our sincerity and emphasised that Malaysia-Singapore relations remain close and strongly bonded,” he told reporters at the 2025 International Media and Communication Conference (MENTION2025).
The errors occurred when an RTM commentator incorrectly referred to Singapore’s Prime Minister as Lee Hsien Loong, whereas the position is currently held by Lawrence Wong.
A similar mistake was made when the commentator referred to Joko Widodo as Indonesia’s president, despite him being succeeded by Prabowo Subianto.
Suhaimi said RTM is taking the matter seriously and plans to strengthen editorial controls to prevent a recurrence.
“We have conducted an internal investigation to identify the root cause and will take appropriate action once the full report is received,” he added.
