‘It was lose-lose for me’

PETALING JAYA: It is impossible to satisfy the needs of all parties, says Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil (pic) in defending his decision to cancel the Good Vibes Festival.

He said that he was placed in a “lose-lose” situation and was aware that he would be left open to criticism regardless of what decision he made.

“When I choose to cancel the event, I’m criticised. If I don’t choose to cancel the event, I will also be criticised.

“It’s impossible for me to satisfy everyone,” he said during his speech at an event in Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) yesterday.

Fahmi said he believes that the people would understand why he made the decision to cancel the entire festival.

“As long as I and other members of the unity government continue to work transparently and deliver the truth on the reasoning behind our actions, I believe the people will understand.

“I know that the people of Selangor and the country as a whole are more than mature enough to understand what transpired and why I did what I did,” he added.

Fahmi cancelled the Good Vibes Festival in Sepang on Saturday after Matt Healy, the frontman for British band The 1975, slammed Malaysia’s LGBT laws before kissing his male bandmate Ross MacDonald on stage.

On a related matter, Fahmi said local artistes involved in the festival had yet to be paid, although foreign artistes were paid prior to the event.

He added that government investment arm MyCreative Ventures has been put in charge of helping out local artistes and store vendors affected by the sudden cancellation.

“I will leave it up to them to announce what kind of support they can offer both vendors and local artistes,” he said.

Meanwhile, owner of Sausage Sizzle, Nazri Adam, 29, said they had 4,500 portions of food but only managed to sell 800.

“We are looking for different events to clear our stock in the coming weeks.

“Thankfully, we have our 14 outlets to help clear the stock,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Beard Brothers BBQ owner Nazri Jameson, 38, said the event’s sudden cancellation resulted in financial difficulties.

“We spent a lot of money to transport not only ingredients but also important equipment like smokers here.

“We also paid a hefty sum to rent fridges for three days, but ended up using them for only one day,” he said, adding that he spotted some vendors giving away their food and drinks for free.

A Pie Thing co-owner Alex Yeo said they now had around RM50,000 worth of unsold food due to the event’s cancellation.

“Vendors were informed to prepare about 1,000 portions of food per day and we had to prepare them in advance before baking.

“We have about 2,500 portions of food left unsold with each portion costing around RM20,” he said, adding that they are now trying to sell the balance through online deliveries.