Malaysia’s public broadcaster has apologised for giving the wrong names for the Thai, Singaporean and Indonesian leaders attending the opening ceremony of the Asean Summit on Sunday.
Radio Television Malaysia (RTM) referred to the Thai prime minister as Srettha Thavisin and not by his correct name, Anutin Charnvirakul. Mr Srettha was prime minister before Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was subsequently replaced by Mr Anutin.
Mr Anutin was not alone in being misnamed by the RTM commentator. Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong was wrongly called Lee Hsien Loong, who is senior minister, and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto was refferred to as Joko Widodo, his predecessor.
The Asean summit, hosted by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, was held in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, followed by other high-level meetings with leaders of the group’s partners until Tuesday.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations now has 11 nations after accepting East Timor on Sunday as a new member.
“The commentator also mentioned Thailand’s prime minister as Srettha Thavisin, instead of Anutin Charnvirakul, who currently holds the position,” Malaysian Department of Broadcasting said in a statement reported by Bernama news agency.
RTM took errors seriously and would take action over the mistake, the agency said.