In a strange twist of events, the police have found a reason to be upset with the state-owned Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM).

This is over the screening of a tampered version of the police force logo, which instead of Polis DiRaja Malaysia (Royal Malaysian Police), read 'Polis Raja di Malaysia' or police the king in Malaysia.

According to the New Straits Times , the Communication and Multimedia Ministry had assured police that it would investigate allegations that the force's logo was tampered with the intention of discrediting the institution.

The logo was first noticed by a senior police officer who was watching a news update on Op Cantas, the codename for the crackdown on gangsterism, on RTM.

The daily reported that the tampered logo had been used in the station’s news reports since Aug 17.

Communication and Multimedia Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek said he had directed his officers to probe the matter, and instructed RTM director-general Norhyati Ismail to issue a statement soon.

"The culprit has been identified. It has not been established why the staff did it but it was done deliberately.

Apology and termination

"The culprit was employed on a contractual basis and will be laid off, if proven guilty," the daily quoted an RTM staff member as saying.

"Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar has been informed of the findings of the probe and the ministry wants to work with him to resolve this issue," he added.

In related development, according to Bernama , RTM terminated the services of individuals allegedly involved in tampering the police logo.

"The matter was put right and an apology was aired on the national news bulletin at midnight last night.

"An official letter of apology has been sent to the inspector-general of police," Norhyati said in a statement later today.

Norhyati said the disciplinary committee, which met today, deliberated on further action that could be taken following the incident.

The action taken had been posted on the broadcasting department's social network site.