Don’t pour cold water over the music

COLDPLAY, one of the world’s most popular rock bands, is set to perform in Malaysia for the first time on Wednesday. The Bukit Jalil National Stadium concert in Kuala Lumpur is part of the British band’s Music of the Spheres World Tour.

When the performance was announced in May, PAS called on the government to cancel it.

Nasrudin Hassan, a PAS central working committee member, posted on Facebook: “Does the government want to nurture a culture of hedonism and perversion in this country?”

It is not the first time PAS has demanded the government ban concerts by foreign artistes. In March, the party’s Padang Terap MP Nurul Amin Hamid told Parliament that Korean girl group Blackpink’s concert was against the values of Malaysia’s Muslim-majority population.

The response from the group’s many Malaysian fans – of all races and faiths, mind you – was, basically, “If you don’t like it, don’t buy their concert tickets.”

Maybe Blackpink’s outfits can be considered sexy but, really, can you call a bunch of 40something guys in jeans and T-shirts playing intellectual rock songs on stage “perverse”? They aren’t even known for taking their shirts off.

But, hey, everyone has the right to an opinion, yes? No one, however, has the right to force that opinion on other people, surely?

Especially when that opinion might be beginning to affect the country’s reputation, and even its coffers.

The creative and events sectors contribute billions each year to the GDP. They also attract visitors from abroad who add to the tourism ringgit, something that is sorely needed in a sector battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Coldplay is appearing for one night in Malaysia; but the band is playing six nights in Singapore – and all six shows are sold out already as fans from around the region are flocking to the island (including Malaysians who couldn’t get a ticket to the KL show).

That could have been us raking in the money from visitors who come for a concert and stay for our much-vaunted hospitality and wonderful food.

But we wouldn’t be surprised if Malaysia is developing a reputation for being a difficult concert venue, making foreign artistes hesitant to come here, especially when the country’s main Opposition party is so vocal about cancelling concerts.

Voicing disapproval or concern about an event or a concert or a book or anything is all well and good but taking that a step further and calling for wholesale cancellations and bans is uncalled for.

Especially when you want to cancel a band that has songs with wholesome lyrics like “I wanna live life and always be true / I wanna live life and be good to you” (We Never Change). Perverse? Really?