Facebook's Automatic Translation Sparks Controversy Over RTM's Post Congratulating YDPA

A controversy erupted online today due to Facebook’s automatic translation feature, which mistranslated a congratulatory post by Malaysia’s national public broadcaster, RTM. The post, originally in Bahasa Melayu, was meant to congratulate Sultan Ibrahim ibn Sultan Iskandar of Johor on his installation as the 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

In screenshots of the viral post, RTM’s message in Bahasa Melayu, “Junjung kasih kepada Yang Maha Mulia Raja-Raja Melayu,” was incorrectly translated to English as “Condolences to His Majesty the Malay Kings.”

Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil addressed the mistranslation on his official Facebook page, clarifying that the English text was generated by Facebook’s automatic translation feature, not written by RTM.

Fahmi stated, “Some quarters are accusing RTM of writing an indecent Facebook post in English. In reality, the real posting was made in Bahasa Melayu.” He also mentioned that an irresponsible individual had spread slander about the incident, even suggesting he 'hang himself' over RTM’s mistranslated post. Fahmi shared a screenshot of the viral message on WhatsApp shared by the irresponsible individual.

Fahmi urged the public to be fair to RTM and refrain from spreading slander. RTM has lodged a police report about the mistranslation.

Additionally, BERNAMA reported that the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) contacted Meta regarding the erroneous translation, and the company has since rectified the issue.