KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 — Organisers of the Better Beer Festival 2017 may rack up losses worth hundreds of thousands in ringgit from the event’s forced cancellation, but the intangible cost suffered from the controversy will be worse, a group representing the ‘live’ entertainment industry predicted.
ALIFE vice-president Rizal Kamal said the fiasco surrounding the ban dealt a heavy blow to Malaysia’s image as a moderate country, with estimated future losses possibly in the millions of ringgit as investors may be spooked and flee to more stable markets.
“Direct cost implications could easily be in the hundreds of thousands. The damage to Malaysia’s reputation, however, would be in the millions,” Rizal said in a brief interview with Malay Mail Online yesterday.
More than half of the participants in the fifth edition of the Better Beer Festival were foreign companies. The organisers, Mybeer (M) Sdn Bhd, said the festival was meant to celebrate the art of brewery by showcasing beers from different countries.
Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) initially said it rejected the event due to “political sensitivity” following protest from PAS leaders and some vocal conservative Muslims who claimed it would encourage immorality and vice.
But a few days later, the given reason changed to security concerns after a handful of non-Muslim Opposition federal lawmakers accused the local council of bowing to political and religious pressure.
First, MCA claimed a threat from Islamic State militants, followed by the police weighing in with intelligence information indicating extremists were targeting to sabotage the event, which in turn drew greater scepticism from DAP MPs.
Riza said the ‘live’ events industry is also sceptical about the so-called terror threat.
“ALIFE believes the key reason for non-approval of the said permit is due to political pressure that originated from PAS. It has become a ‘hot topic’ hence to prevent further untowardness, the event should not proceed,” he said.
Riza said many in the industry also believe that the main security threat would have come from conservative Muslim protesters, although no groups have voiced an intention to organise one.
Mybeer has not disclosed the financial cost it will have to bear from cancelling the event, which is estimated to be at least five digits.
But Riza said the police have the authority to cancel any event on security grounds, leaving the event organisers to shoulder the cost.
“That is the same anywhere in the world. We hope the Malaysian police do not use this authority to cancel due to political pressure,” he said.
Despite attempts by hardliners to portray beer festivals as a social nuisance, there have been no crime or health-reported problems linked to past events.
Riza said this indicated trust from the authorities, which until this year have had no problems authorising the events. Riza noted this is the first time DBKL had rejected the permit, and on security grounds.
“As far as we know, there has never been an event cancellation due to high level terrorist threat in Malaysia,” he said.
