“It shouldn’t have happened,” former New Straits Times group editor Mustapha Kamil Mohd Janor told FMT. “We shouldn’t make fun of anybody that way. To me, it is simply a lack of media ethics and the producers should know the limits of what they can and cannot do.
“During my time at NST, an incident like this never happened. But if it did, I would’ve taken severe action. Nothing short of a dismissal.”
In an interview with Bernama, the former sprinter, Watson Nyambek, said he was unhappy that his father, who died three years ago, was likened to an animal in a recent episode of “Sukan Tak Sentral”.
Watson, known as the Flying Dayak, said he didn’t mind being called “poor” or “bankrupt”, but was upset that some people felt they had the right to make fun of his late father.
Primeworks Studios chief executive officer Ahmad Izham Omar has since apologised for the incident on behalf of TV3 and TV9.
He said the company had reminded all employees to be sensitive when producing programmes.
Mustapha Kamil said the culprits might want to consider resigning from their posts.
Ex-sprinter Watson Nyambek lodges report, mulls legal action