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Malaysia’s national public broadcaster Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) apologised not for one, not for two, but three blunders in addressing the names of world leaders during their live broadcast on day one of the 47th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur yesterday (26 October).
In one of the three separate statements issued on social media, RTM expressed their regret in naming the Prime Minister of Thailand as Srettha Thavisin instead of Arnutin Charnivakul. Thavisin was the former Prime Minister of Thailand from 2023 until he was dismissed from the position by the Constitutional Court on 14 August, 2024.
A second statement was published to apologise for the misnaming of Singapore’s Prime Minister. The broadcast company mentioned Lee Hsien Loong, the eldest son of the island nation’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Hsien Loong served as Singapore’s third Prime Minister between 2004 and 2024. The current Prime Minister of Singapore is Lawrence Wong.
A third statement, issued on the same day, was to apologise for mistakenly naming Joko Widodo as the current Prime Minister of the Republic of Indonesia. Joko Widodo was the seventh Prime Minister of Indonesia who was in office from 2014 to 2024. The current Indonesian Prime Minister is Prabowo Subianto.
Many on social media found the mistakes embarrasing, and wondered how the oldest national broadcaster in the country could make such glaring mistakes.
“Did they use ChatGPT completely? Sometimes information on ChatGPT is not updated. It’s happened to me before. When I checked, it took old information,” one user commented on Threads.
Another individual asked: “Did the newsreader not do research? This is Asean, not a wedding reception. Even if it was a wedding, if you said the wrong name you’re done for. The mother of the bride and groom will go berserk”.
Some even jokingly called the blunders a “hat trick”, which is a football term for when a player scores three consecutive goals, except these goals are not exactly the kinds to be celebrated with a knee slide on the field.
Charles Hector: “It is a major embarrasment and an act of disrespect”
Malaysian human rights activist and blogger Charles Hector Fernandez asked this in his latest blog posting:
“How will Malaysia and Malaysians feel if some international TV or some radio/TV station in some country referred to Malaysia’s Prime Minister as Ismail Sabri or Mahathir, and not Anwar Ibrahim?”
He further commented on the matter in his blog, saying “Malaysia may move forward laying blame on some RTM commentator — but not in this case, as the ultimate blame should like on the Malaysian Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the Malaysian MADANI government — speedy apologies needed from our Prime Minister NOW”.
Trump steals the spotlight on first day of summit
US President Donald Trump arrived in Malaysia yesterday (26 October) to attend the first day of the 47th Asean Summit.
He was greeted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at Kuala Lumpur International Airport with a traditional dance ensemble before both leaders hopped into ‘The Beast’, the United States’ presidential state car, to make their way to the summit at KLCC Convention Centre.
READ MORE: [Watch] Trump Gets Down With ‘Joget Penumbuk’ Dance Moves At KLIA Welcome
This was not the first instance where a Malaysian Prime Minister was invited into the heavily-protected vehicle, as former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has also been in the bullet-proof car when former US President Barack Obama visited Malaysia a decade ago.
READ MORE: [Watch] Anwar Rides In “The Beast” With Trump, Echoes Najib’s 2014 Experience With Obama
However, reactions are different this time as Malaysians disagree with Anwar’s friendliness with Trump, as the president is well known for his involvement and support of Israel’s genocide on the Palestinian people in Gaza.
Share your thoughts with us via TRP’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Threads.
Third Time’s The Charm? Not For National Broadcaster RTM On ASEAN Leaders’ Names
Entertainment Flash Report
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