WHO needs Taylor Swift to regale Malaysians live in concert when we are served with the antics of politicians who easily break into a political song and dance over the superstar songstress snubbing the country in her Eras tour in the region?
And perhaps nothing reeks of “hypocrisy” and “expediency” more than former Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ahmad Faizal Azumu blaming his successor Hannah Yeoh for a “missed opportunity” to reap the economic windfall had the Hollywood A-star celebrity made Malaysia as part of her stops.
Swift is performing only in Singapore in the region after its government offered incentive for her to make the island republic the only stop in Southeast Asia. Her six concerts there have been sold out.
One can be forgiven for thinking that Ahmad Faizal, the Bersatu deputy president, was doing stand-up comedy with his claims. After all, Bersatu is part of Perikatan Nasional (PN), a coalition that includes PAS which has traditionally been opposed to holding concerts not of the nasyid variety.
In recent times, PAS leaders had opposed concerts in Kuala Lumpur by Ed Sheeran and Coldplay.
Ahmad Faizal is not the only Bersatu leader who had capitalised the issue of Swift skipping Malaysia. The party’s legal and constitution bureau deputy chairman Sasha Lyna Abdul Latiff also blamed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and DAP Segambut MP Yeoh for failing to woo Swift to perform here.
But Sasha Lyna’s rebuke was met with the same from her party colleague, its vocal Youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal who claimed that the former was not authorised to speak on the issue.
Wan Ahmad Fayhsal is also MP for Machang in Kelantan, a PAS-held conservative state which does not even have cinemas.
So, what’s with the mixed signals coming from Bersatu leaders over Malaysia’s failed attempt to have Swift perform here? Do they want the concert and its attendant “Swiftnomics” spillover effects? Or are they happy to keep Malaysia insulated from “decadent Western values” often associated with Hollywood A-listers?
Or is Bersatu and PN playing the “good cop-bad cop” roles by – on the one hand – having certain leaders rooting for a more liberal policy towards concerts to win over the non-Malay voters while on another opposing it to appease its traditional Malay support?
Whatever the motivations, Malaysians are now more discerning over political showmanship. At the end of the day, it’s the track-record of politicians that matters, not the soundbites or the theatrics they put up. – March 8, 2024
Main image credit: Klook
