PUTRAJAYA, April 23 — Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman today promised that he will do all he can to bring Korean K-pop group BTS to Malaysia in 2020.
He said he has tasked aviation mogul Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, who was appointed as chairman of Malaysia Stadium Corporation (PSM), last year to deliver on this pledge.
“I’ve just met with the promoter for the BTS event and we are in the negotiation phase. Our hope is to get BTS here for Visit Malaysia 2020,” Syed Saddiq told reporters at Putrajaya today.
“I’ve tasked Tan Sri Tony Fernandes to deliver and this is one of his KPIs (Key Performance Index).”
The MP for Muar said the entertainment industry in Malaysia churns a revenue of US$4 billion (RM16 billion) every year giving the example of the Malaysian Moto GP which attracts an average of 225,000 fans every year.
He said the revenue generated by PSM, the agency in charge of stadium operations including KL Sports City (Bukit Jalil), from organising world class events can be reinvested into the stadium’s upkeep and maintenance.
He said Malaysia is losing out to Singapore as a destination for entertainment and that the stadiums here are being underused.
“Recently the biggest entertainment event we had was the Ed Sheeran concert and that went well. If people see that we’re capable of organising world class events it will attract investors.
“I do not want to be left behind Singapore anymore. We’ve seen fans will fly from all over to Singapore (for events) because we’re not competitive and we’re losing out on this revenue.”
BTS, also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a seven-member South Korean boy band formed by Big Hit.
They have been named by many media outlets as the “biggest boy-band in the world” at the moment.
