Politicians call for cancellation of Coldplay concert in Malaysia
Members of PAS mention the concert promotes "hedonistic and aberrant cultures" and has "no benefit whatsoever" to the country
Coldplay makes their way through Asia for their upcoming 2023 tour, but a few individuals in Malaysia’s Islamic party (PAS) have requested the government cancel the band’s Kuala Lumpur show due to the spread of LGBTQIA+ agendas.
Fans in Malaysia were thrilled when Coldplay announced that they would be venturing to the city for the first time this coming November 22. Back in 2017, the band made their way around Asia for a tour but missed a few countries including Malaysia, which got people petitioning to bring them to Kuala Lumpur. Once dates for this year's tour were announced, Malaysia’s prime minister Anwar Ibrahim took to Twitter to welcome the band to the country via a personalized video message.
See you in November! @coldplay pic.twitter.com/ELOGxZWx1q
— Anwar Ibrahim (@anwaribrahim) May 9, 2023
The concert raised a few concerns from a leader of the political party PAS, Nasrudin Hassan. The politician took to Facebook and requested the government to cancel the concert as the band promoted "hedonistic and aberrant cultures" and that it will be "no benefit whatsoever" to the country.
Another citizen commented that Coldplay is a supporter of the LGBTQIA+ communities and that their tour poster promoted LGBTQIA+ values.
This then lead to a frenzy of other Malaysians commenting back with mockery such as stating that Twitter also supports LGBTQIA+ communities, retweeting the comments so it would steer others to not purchase tickets (making more available) and more.
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Included in those comments was a minister from the country’s Democratic Action Party (DAP), Nga Kor Ming, who expressed “If PAS does not like Coldplay, then simple — don’t buy their concert tickets. That’s all, but don’t stop Coldplay fans from attending their concert.”
Another DAP chairman, Shakir Ameer, mentioned that this concert would help tourism while boosting the country’s economic growth. He also pointed out that Coldplay’s commitment to practising sustainable concert practices of recycling and the reduction of CO2 emissions falls in line with Islamic practices.
Read this next: Pump up the rainbow: Asia’s queer voices are louder than before
Malaysia isn’t the only country going through issues with the Coldplay concert — religious groups in Indonesia have also raised the same concerns, but with less traction over the internet’s wave of keyboard warriors…for now.
