AN MP has expressed his disappointment over a “missed opportunity” for Malaysia following an announcement earlier today (June 20) that British rock band Coldplay would be playing six shows in Singapore.
According to Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, Malaysia has missed out on an “economic lottery” by arguing over the country hosting concerts while other countries were grabbing “golden chances” to generate economic surplus.
“Coldplay is doing a six-day tour in Singapore. It was five days yesterday and they added another date today,” he tweeted.
“What about Malaysia? There are so many obstacles to do even one concert.”
In breaking down the figures, Syed Saddiq explained that Singapore could have gained an average of RM180 mil in ticket sales for all six Singapore shows.
“Naturally [Malaysians] who failed to buy tickets would be sure to grab the chance [to attend the concert in Singapore],” he said.
“Let’s say a round-trip flight ticket price from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore is approximately RM350, and if 1,000 Malaysians were to attend the concert in Singapore, the airline would’ve collected around RM350,000. In six days, that is RM2.1 million.”
Syed Saddiq further noted that more expenses would be incurred for travel and leisure, and if a person spends RM500 a day, 1,000 tourists would bring in RM500,000 while in six days, the amount collected would have been RM3 mil.
He also asserted that Malaysia used to host 40 to 50 concerts annually but concert organisers are gradually met with more obstacles and complaints.
“Malaysia cannot continue to miss out on this opportunity,” he added.
The announcement that Coldplay will be bringing their “Music of the Spheres” concert to Malaysia – scheduled to be held on Nov 22 this year – has been met with resistance from several PAS leaders who had condemned the band for its LGBT agenda.
In fact, several religious leaders have called for the concert to be banned and have even cautioned Muslims against attending the concert if it promotes LGBT agendas as it would “contradict religious tenets”.
In an interview with Malaysian radio station HITZ on May 19, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin had explicitly addressed the topic, saying everyone is welcome to their show.
“We love all people, all kinds of people, all religions, all leaders, all followers – nobody is excluded,” he said.
“We want you to come to our show and feel free to be yourself and feel free to let everybody be themselves.”
“Anyone not happy that we’re coming, we are so sorry but we love you too.” – June 20, 2023
