KUALA LUMPUR, April 26 — The Serdang police must explain why they withdrew their support for Thirst 2015 despite the organisers Future Sound Asia fulfilling necessary preconditions as this resulted in the concert’s last-minute cancellation, Serdang MP Dr Ong Kian Ming said today.
The DAP lawmaker pointed out that the “Thirst: We are all Stardust” 2015 concert that was supposed to be held at the Mines International Exhibition and Convention Center had already obtained a temporary permit from MPSJ as well as an approval letter from the Serdang police back on March 25.
The conditions for the concert include ensuring that there would be no one under the age of 18 attending the concert and ensuring that no Muslims would be allowed to attend the concert.
“On the afternoon of Friday, April 24, the police sent a letter to MPSJ stating that they would not support the concert. As a result, MPSJ was forced to withdraw the entertainment permit to the organisers of the event.
“The reason for the withdrawal of the police support for this event was not stated. This is the only reason why MPSJ withdrew the entertainment license,” Ong said in a statement here, along with a screenshot of MPSJ’s letter to the organisers stating the withdrawal of the entertainment licence.
“While the police have the right not to support any entertainment event based on valid and legitimate reasons, it is unfair to the organizers of any large scale event when the withdrawal of support comes at the 11th hour and without any stated reason,” Ong added, saying that he was made to understand that the event organisers had already obtained the support of the Anti-Drugs Agency as well the police’s narcotics division.
The Serdang MP stressed that the concert cancellation would affect Malaysia’s reputation as a destination to hold international entertainment events.
“At the very least, I hope that the police can come out to give an explanation on why they withdrew their support for this event at the last minute.
“Moving forward, I call for a transparent Standard Operating Procedure on the part of the police for such events so that all stakeholders can take the necessary steps to prevent such a cancellation from happening again, without legitimate reasons given,” the DAP leader said.
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