No stone-throwing incident towards the Royal Malaysian Air Force 130-Hercules plane took place in Padang, said Widyanka Ryananta, the Malaysian-based Indonesian minister counsellor for information, social and culture.

"Based on information obtained from Komandan Pangkalan Udara Padang (Penerbang)," he said "Not a single foreign plane was hit by rocks as reported in Malaysian dailies recently.

"Even our officials located in Bandar Udara Internasional Minangkabau (where the incident allegedly took place) said that such incident did not occur," said Widyanka.

earthquake indonesia padang sumatra 130907 airlifts He said he contacted Fauzi Omar, the Malaysian consul general in Medan, who also confirmed no such incident took place. Fauzi, he added, had informed the Malaysian foreign ministry of the latest development.

"Yesterday (Oct 8), I contacted the Indonesian Desk in the Malaysian Foreign Ministry to inform them that the incident never happened," he said.

Last Tuesday, Malay daily Berita Harian reported that a Malaysian Air Force plane was hit with stones allegedly thrown by several Padang residents when it was there to carry out a relief and rescue mission following the deadly earthquake in Sumatera.

'We welcome humanitarian aid'

Utusan Malaysia on the other hand, reported the following day that the stone-throwing was done by a group of "mischievous kids who hated Malaysia".

According to Widyanka, such misinformation could affect Indonesia-Malaysia ties, which is already soured by the on-going cultural spat between the two neighbouring countries.

indonesian earthquake in padang sumatra "We also regret that the media did not do any background checks on the matter before publishing the news," he said, and stressed that it had given a negative impression that Indonesia was not receptive to a foreign aid, especially from Malaysia.

"We also hoped the Malaysian media would have made clarifications in their reports so that they will not give a negative view on the diplomatic ties between the two nations," he added.

He stressed that Indonesian leaders took this matter seriously as they want to ensure bilateral ties with Malaysia remain strong.

"We appreciate any humanitarian aid provided by the Malaysian people to help the victims of the recent earthquake in Sumatera," he said.