PAS Youth has expressed regret that the Madani government is allowing the maiden concert by British rock band Coldplay to go on as scheduled on Nov 22 (Wednesday) at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur.
The youth wing of the Islamist party further chided the government for failing to repent and learn from “the disgusting incident of The 1975 concert” in August whereby “the band’s lead singer kissed on stage and criticised the constitution and laws in Malaysia”.
“Do we still want to provide the space for singers with eLGiBiT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer) ideology and atheist mentality to perform in Malaysia?” berated PAS Youth deputy president Hanif Jamaluddin in a Facebook statement.
“At a time when the world is in solidarity and angered by Zionist tyranny on the Palestinians with Muslims fervently praying to Him for the safety of the Palestinians, it is feared that the concert will open an entertainment space that may evoke His wrath.
“Indeed, this is related to the sensitivity of Muslims who view concerts as a form of false entertainment that is contrary to the purity of the struggle and solidarity of Muslims with Palestinians.”
Interestingly, a check at ticket sales shows that there was an overwhelming response to the band’s performance scheduled at the 88,083-capacity Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta at 7pm local time today (Nov 15) with only “16 tickets remaining”.
This is despite Indonesia being touted as having the world’s largest Muslim population with an estimated 229 million Muslims as of Oct 6 (source: Statista).
Probably, Coldplay fans would recall the feedback from the band’s frontman Chris Martin in May when PAS central working committee member Nasrudin Hassan called for its gig to be cancelled on grounds of “wanting to nurture a culture of hedonism and perversion in this country”.
“Every time I meet Malaysians, I feel such a sense of love and warmth. Everybody is welcome to our show. We love all people, all kinds of people, all religions,” the co-founder of Coldplay told local radio station HITZ FM.
“All leaders, all followers – nobody is excluded. We really want you to come to our show and feel free to be yourself and feel free to let everybody be themselves. Anyone who is not happy we are coming, we’re sorry, but we love you too.” – Nov 15, 2023
