KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 3 ― Singer Datuk Zainal Abidin has received payment owed to him for his August 30 performance at the SEA Games closing ceremony, his lawyer confirmed today.
Zainal’s lawyer Mathew Thomas Philip also confirmed that his client would not be seeking legal action as the outstanding amount has been paid.
“What has happened is we were instructed to file a summons today against Memories Entertainment Sdn Bhd who had engaged Datuk Zainal Abidin who performed at the closing ceremony of the SEA Games.
“However we have just been informed by our client that he has received payment and he has instructed us to stop the legal proceedings because it has been settled,” he told Malay Mail Online when contacted today.
He said Memories Entertainment had this morning communicated the information on the payment.
“The summons was to be filed today but Datuk Zainal stopped the filing because of the payment,” he said.
He said Zainal’s initial plans to pursue legal action “was not an issue of money but on matter of principle”.
“And he had done this because he wanted to ensure other artistes who have not been paid will also get paid,” he said.
Singer Adibah Noor, who did not perform at the SEA Games opening or closing ceremonies, had last Saturday highlighted on Twitter that some of the performers at the event's closing ceremony had yet to be paid.
Last Sunday, Zainal was reported saying that the company appointed by the government to give the payment had yet to pay him.
On Tuesday, Malay Mail reported Zainal's wife and manager Datin Angelina Asmawi as saying that the singer had only received the first payment before the SEA Games closing ceremony and was promised the remaining payment a week after the event.
In the same Tuesday report, the Malaysian Organising Committee had said it was working with the Finance Ministry to speed up the payment process and had set a target of resolving all outstanding payments by the end of November.
