PETALING JAYA • RTM has admitted to making errors when displaying the flags of certain participating countries during its SEA Games showcase and vowed that action will be taken to prevent similar occurrences.

The Malaysian national broadcaster's director-general of broadcasting Abu Bakar Ab Rahim said it has since apologised for the mistakes during the news segments on Thursday and Friday.

According to him, the mistakes occurred at the production level, while attempting to update the medal results that are constantly changing.

"We will take action in order to prevent something similar from happening again," he told The Star on Saturday.

The mix-up of flags had gone viral on social media and drew the ire of netizens, who condemned the mistakes and said it looked bad on Malaysia as the host nation of this year's SEA Games.

The flags of eight of the 11 participating countries - namely Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia and Laos - had been wrongly attributed during several events on Friday.

"The arrangement of flags are all over the place," said one social media user.

Broadcasters also got Malaysia's flag wrong during the men's 50 metres freestyle final, tagging swimmer Keith Lim with the Singapore flag and under the abbreviation "KUL" (Kuala Lumpur) instead of "MAS" (Malaysia).

Malaysian officials also have their hands full following Saturday's men's football semi-final between Malaysia and Indonesia, which the hosts won 1-0.

Yesterday, Shah Alam district police chief Shafien Mamat said that a 30-year-old Indonesian man had lodged a police report, alleging that he had been attacked by men he believed to be Malaysian football fans after the match. The case has been classified as rioting.

Police are also investigating an incident where a firecracker went off during the tie at the Shah Alam Stadium. It is understood that the firecracker exploded where the Malaysian fans were seated.

ASIA NEWS NETWORK/THE STAR