Cancellation of Erykah Badu Concert Gets Cabinet Support - M'sian Minister

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 29 (Bernama) -- The move by the Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture to ban the concert by American singer, Erykah Badu, which was scheduled to be held Wednesday night, has received the support of the Cabinet. Information, Communications and Culture Minister Dr Rais Yatim said he had tabled the cancellation of the concert from the aspect of security and the importance of giving respect to religion, race and the socio-culture prevailing in Malaysia. "If the concert were to go ahead, according to the Royal Malaysia Police, there is a possibility that it may develop into various situations that may lead to social excitement, and quarrels may break out due to religious sensitivities as had happened in other places in the world which might lead to excessive and uncontrollable excitement. "The strong grounds in terms of the integrity of the religion, race and the government itself had to be taken into consideration besides security factors," he told reporters, here Wednesday. On Tuesday, Rais announced that the Foreign Artiste Performance and Film Screening Central Application Agency (Puspal) had cancelled the Erykah concert which was found to have contravened the Puspal guidelines and approval conditions with regard to religious, racial and cultural sensitivities of the Malaysian people. He said the act by the artiste in inscribing the word 'Allah' on her body and not covering it up was an insult to Islam and was a serious matter. In this regard, Rais said anyone wishing to stage a concert that could cause excitement or give an impact on religious values were advised to study in detail the implication it would have on the community and to comply with the conditions stipulated. He said anyone using the Internet as its news or entertainment channel should also respect the religious principles of the various communities in the country and the ministry would monitor such developments. "We must respect the religious values in Malaysia, the cultural values of all communities, and recognise the social values as practised in line with the Rukun Negara (National Principles) and the country's law," he said. He explained that the picture carried by a local newspaper previously was not the picture provided by the organisers from the start which did not have any symbol insulting Islam, that is the word 'Allah' on the left and right flanks. "But somehow, the newspaper had carried the photograph," he said, adding that he regretted such incident which was not the first in the country. He said approval was given to the organisers on Jan 4 to comply with all the conditions for the concert and one of them was to respect the religious, cultural and socio-cultural values of the Malaysian people. "Nothing that is obscene in nature, nothing that gives a picture that is insulting to any religion, and all these had been agreed to by them (organisers). "But on (Feb) 27th, the newspaper concerned had carried this article, that is, two days prior to the staging of the concert. I'm confident, this can be resolved, if the organisers adhere to the conditions," he said. On the action against the organisers, Rais said that matters pertaining to printing concerned the Ministry of Home Affairs while the jurisdiction of the ministry (of Information, Communications and Culture) is to look at it in terms of the Communications and Multimedia Act which was not related to the incident concerning the American singer. "But I'm convinced, if the Attorney-General looks at it in total, several provisions under the Penal Code can be referred, but let the respective authorities do their homework," he added. -- BERNAMA