Ong Kian Ming: Thirst cancellation dents Malaysia's name

PETALING JAYA: The police should explain why they withdrew their support at the last minute for the 'Thirst 2015: We Are All Stardust' concert, that was scheduled to take place on Saturday, said Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming (pic).

"While the police have the right not to support any entertainment event based on valid and legitimate reasons, it is unfair to the organisers of any large scale event when the withdrawal of support comes at the 11th hour and without any stated reason," he said.

Serdang police had issued a letter on March 25 saying they had no objections to the staging of the event. In April, the Subang Jaya Municipal Council issued a temporary permit to the organisers to stage the concert.

On Friday, however, 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 for the event. The reason for the withdrawal of the police support for this event was not stated.

Hence, the organisers had no choice but to cancel the concert and to provide refunds to all those who had bought tickets to the event.

Ong said the organisers and sponsors had spent millions of ringgit to promote the event and even obtained the support of the Anti-Dadah Agency and the Narcotics Division who would have placed their officers on duty on the night of the event.

"It is very disappointing for the ticker holders, the organisers, the performers and all the other stakeholders that this event had to be cancelled at the last minute.

"It also dents the reputation of Malaysia as a destination to hold international-level entertainment events because of the possibility that such events may have to be cancelled at the last minute due to the withdrawal of permits," said Ong in a statement.

"Moving forward, I call for a transparent Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 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," he said.