PETALING JAYA: Organisers of the Peace Concert, scheduled to take place on Feb 23 at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, hope it will draw more spectators than the stadium can hold.
The concert is part of the Peace Malaysia campaign, which has surpassed its target of collecting one million signatures for messages of peace against an impending US war against Iraq.
The concert will be the culmination of the campaign before the signatures are presented at the Non-Aligned Movement Summit (NAM), scheduled for Feb 20 to 25.
According to the Peace Concert executive producer Norman Halim of the KRU fame, this was the first time more than 1,000 registered NGOs have formed a loose alliance to stage such a concert.
“We had initially wanted to have a street concert at the KLCC. Then, we decided on Dataran Merdeka but due to the encouraging support from the three million members from the 1,048 NGOs, we had to settle for Bukit Jalil.
“The entertainment magnitude had to be downscaled because this is not supposed to be a joyous celebration at all. The objective is to get Malaysians to voice out and understand the trauma and tragedy of war,” he added.
Norman noted that the concert would not be an extravagant affair with hydraulic stage and pyrotechnic effects
“In fact, this is no celebration. We are trying to gather the people so that they have a platform to voice their opinion. We are serious about this issue.
“The objective is to get the strong message of unity across,” he explained.
The itinerary included symposiums, poetry reading, colloquium, motorcades and exhibitions culminating in a huge public rally timed to coincide with the opening of NAM.
“A memorandum will be given to the Prime Minister at the end of the event. One of the highlights of the concert is the 45-minute PM mandate, which will be flashed in the first half of the show. In the style of the closing ceremony of Sukom, a convoy of super bikers will present the unity torch to the Prime Minister,” he explained.
Some 30 artistes from all races will take part in the concert.
So far, some of the big names are Siti Nurhaliza, Rabbani, Ella, Fazley, Nurul & Ajai, Soo Ai Ling, Sathiya, Zainal Abidin, and Ning Baizura.
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