Friday, September 4, 2009

Blame Discovery Channel, Indonesians told

Stop blaming Malaysia. It was Discovery Channel which wrongly included a Balinese dance in a clip to promote a documentary series on the country.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the channel had clarified that it was the maker of the clip and apologised for wrongly showing the dance.

He added that the Tourism Ministry and Tourism Malaysia were in no way involved in the production of the promotional video that was aired by the Discovery Channel and they were unaware that the traditional dance from Indonesia had been used.

“The explanation by the Discovery Channel should be accepted and I hope the matter (protests against Malaysia for the use of the dance in the video) will not drag on,” he told a press conference after chairing the Cabinet committee meeting on tourism.

“Discovery sent a letter explaining the whole matter and apologising for the mistake to both the Malaysia and Indonesia’s tourism ministries,” she said.

Protests in Indonesia had reportedly been triggered by allegations that a Balinese dance had been used to promote a television show about Malaysia.

The protests included an incident on Tuesday where some 30 students pelted the Malaysian Embassy in Indonesia with rotten eggs and attempted to raise an Indonesian flag at the gate.

See the complete story from the original source:
The Star Online