The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a formal apology to Indonesia for the gaffe over the latter's flag being printed upside down in the 29th Sea Games booklet.

“On behalf of the government of Malaysia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to express regret for the inadvertent error made by the Malaysian organizing committee (MASOC) for the wrong publication of the Indonesian flag in the official souvenir booklet.

“Also on behalf of the Malaysian government, we would like to extend our apology to the government and the people of the Republic of Indonesia.

“In this regard, we wish to assure the government of the Republic of Indonesia that all measures have been taken to address this unfortunate situation,” said Foreign Minister Anifah Aman in a statement today.

Earlier today, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin met his Indonesian counterpart Imam Nahrawi on the matter.

Anifah said the meeting was to explain "the regrettable error and convey his (Khairy's) apology on behalf of Masoc".

"Malaysia places importance to its close and deeply rooted fraternal relations with Indonesia.

"Indeed, the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations this year is an occasion that we have invested in to rededicate ourselves to our shared values, culture and destiny.

"It is in this spirit that we hope and believe that our two countries will continue to interact closely together and in doing so, strengthen the ties between us and within the region as a whole," said Anifah.

Yesterday, Imam tweeted that the grand opening ceremony held at Bukit Jalil's National Stadium was marred by a "deeply hurtful fatal negligence" which resulted in the image of the Indonesian flag being printed upside down.

The image, which appeared alongside the flags of other Asean countries, was to show the year in which each country had hosted the SEA Games.

Khairy said the distribution of the SEA Games booklet carrying the erroneous Indonesian flag had been halted.

He added that the correction version was being printed and will be distributed soon, according to the New Straits Times.

“The mistake was caused by our negligence. Therefore, as host country we would like to offer an apology to all Indonesian people,” Khairy was quoted as saying after the meeting with Imam.