YOURSAY | Irrational to cancel event just because of one bad hat

YOURSAY | ‘Why no similar outrage over threat to Siti Kasim’s life?’

Cops probe kissing incident, backs cancelling music festival

Vijay47: This is simply unbelievable, shocking.

Granted that some in society would find it offensive the sight of two men kissing in public, even if others would consider it nothing to particularly fret about.

But do we need to go on a full “national war alert” because of a single act of idiocy?

In the past, hysteria over ghosts in telescopes or toilets was an occasional event within factories and that has now died down.

For better or worse, those strange factory spirits seem to have vacated our industrial premises only to be replaced by a worse kind of frenzy.

Suddenly, everybody wants to be a national hero, seeing enemies and ghosts behind every tree or bush.

Remember that case in Sweden, where a nincompoop burned a copy of the Quran?

Of course, any Muslim would be offended, just as anyone else would be if it were his holy book that was desecrated. But how did Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim react?

He was ranting and raving as though Sweden had declared war on us. Nobody denies him the right or even the duty to speak up against such acts, but surely, as the prime minister, he is expected to carry himself with more decorum.

I note that there is no more mention of the one million copies of the Quran.

History repeats itself, this time over one man’s ill-advised display of affection. The Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil jumped on the bandwagon, and an entire three-day Good Vibes Festival (GVF) was ordered to close down.

Almost every government department wants to review our entire spectrum of regulations regarding entertainment events. I am surprised former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has not demanded that our Constitution be amended.

Matt Healy kissed his 1975 band member right there on stage - this is war, the British are coming!

But I note also that there was no similar outrage when a possible terrorist or extremist planted a bomb in lawyer-activist Siti Kasim’s car. Why not? Is Siti not British enough for you?

Let me repeat, for the benefit of those who will respond with their inane comments - I agree that Healy kissing a man would cause discomfort to some.

I also agree that he has broken some local laws and should be charged. But do we have to go about screeching like headless chickens? Have we lost all sense of proportion?

Healy would be feeling smug that his one kiss brought a whole country to a standstill.

Multi Racial: I am totally against what The 1975 band did. They are guests to a nation and they should respect the law and culture of the home country.

Having said that, our government's reaction to this should be just and rational. To cancel GVF because of one bad hat is not just and certainly not rational.

Did the government think of the thousands of people who have made arrangements, and paid for their tickets, accommodation and transportation to be at the GVF?

Not to mention that many would have taken leave to attend the festival. What about the other performers who are innocent?

Cancellation will affect the rest of the performers in terms of their time and money.

What about the vendors who are there to sell food and drinks as well as gifts? The organiser of the festival also booked the venue and paid for so many things.

There is no doubt the government should act against those guilty. Cancellation is overreacting and playing right into the opposition and extremist groups. In my opinion, the shows should not be cancelled. However, The 1975 should either be slapped with a penalty or cancellation of their permit to further perform in Malaysia.

The organiser should also be slapped with a penalty. Both can appeal. The government, through the police, should investigate.

Malaysia is trying to project to the world our unity and moderation. These actions taken portray us as intolerant and not moderate.

I hope Fahmi learns from this as, despite this, I will still support Anwar's unity government. The reason being the other option is not acceptable at all.

Anon 93751028: It's a real pity that the whole festival had to be cancelled because of the actions of one performer.

The actual fine for the action is paltry, but the organiser has to bear the consequences, while the performer goes home with a small fine and will be whinging about his “treatment”.

What Healy did was wrong and deliberate, knowing that kissing a bandmate, drinking alcohol and shooting his mouth off rudely and provocatively would be in contravention of his contract and upset many.

At least, the latter two transgressions would be against the law in many countries.

OceanMasterII: Given the current political climate in the country and the imminent state assembly elections, the home minister was likely compelled to act as he did.

Any less decisive action could have presented an exploitable opportunity for the opposition.

However, it's crucial to note that the overt critique of local laws and public lip-locking by men on stage aren't typically accepted within our Malaysian culture.

This kind of behaviour by a foreigner on Malaysian soil seems inappropriate.

Importantly, there are also diverse views amongst non-Muslims regarding LGBT issues, so it's not solely a religious matter.

BluePanther4725: The 1975 should stick to music instead of making it political and advocating LGBT.

Their remarks are rude and offensive and it's not their place to insult their host country.

However, our authorities and police are overreacting by cancelling the whole event.

Is the government going to cancel all live entertainment events in the future?

This would be extremely silly and immature. We live in a diverse society where many people are different from us and we cannot impose our value systems on others.

Religion does not give us the right to discriminate and oppress others.

Just a Malaysian: Tolerance is a sign of maturity and intelligence. We have none.

We are a chest-thumping community rushing off to defend against trivial symbolic infringement while our own country's well-being is washed down the drain by many self-serving power-crazy politicians.

We are a country confused about what is right or wrong and what path the leadership should take to ensure future generations of Malay and non-Malays have a decent quality of life.

We are also a nation pandering totally to old archaic thinking and feeling smug and proud of it.

We allow the ignorant, unexposed and unthinking masses to remote control all our behaviour.

We placate and please their little bigoted emotions based on their narrow outlook on life.

This country is failing right now and will continue to fail if leaders are not brave enough to stop this type of idiotic mindset.

I am not a supporter of the gay lifestyle but I would not become gay if I saw The 1975 band members give a kiss to their band mate.

A warning should suffice to show the world we do have some level of maturity. Fahmi, go back and watch your favourite movie (Polis Evo 3), “kita lagi kuat boh” (we are stronger).

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. In the past year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.