25-7-2023 (KUALA LUMPUR) Malaysia’s Communications Minister, Fahmi Fadzil, has denied claims that he was behind a narrative blaming the Islamist party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) for the cancellation of the Good Vibes Festival. The music festival was cancelled on Saturday after UK pop rock band The 1975 criticised Malaysia’s anti-LGBT laws while onstage. The band’s frontman, Matty Healy, also kissed bassist Ross MacDonald onstage.
Mr Fahmi referred to a poster that claimed he had directed the government’s “cyber army” to create an “evil narrative” blaming the Islamist party for the festival’s cancellation. PAS is a component party of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition. The poster alleged that Mr Fahmi made the “desperate move” of blaming PAS as he realised that the “unnatural action” involving The 1975 was caused by his approval of the group’s permit to perform.
Mr Fahmi clarified that the Central Agency for Application for Filming and Performance by Foreign Artistes (PUSPAL) under the Ministry of Communications and Digital had denied the festival organisers’ request to bring in The 1975 due to the band’s poor record in other countries. However, The 1975 was later allowed to perform at the festival as a guarantee was made assuring responsibility for the band’s performance.
After the controversial incident involving The 1975, Mr Fahmi took to Twitter to condemn the action and called for the festival organisers to meet him the next morning. At the end of the meeting, he issued a statement and asked the organisers to cancel the rest of the concert and find a refund mechanism for those who had bought tickets.
The festival organiser, Future Sound Asia, apologised for the cancellation of the show following Healy’s “controversial conduct and remarks”. According to the New Straits Times, a group of lawyers is teaming up to represent vendors and local artists who were affected by the festival cancellation to file a class action lawsuit against the band.
Homosexuality is a crime in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
Poster ini adalah fitnah! Saya telah arah pejabat untuk buat laporan pada MCMC dan PDRM.
Di hari kita semua bersedih kehilangan seorang rakan seperjuangan yang baik, ada yang masih sempat dan tak takut melakukan fitnah. pic.twitter.com/Tr8LGzVG60
— Fahmi Fadzil ???????? (@fahmi_fadzil) July 24, 2023
