Press Statement
Govt’s cancellation of Good Vibes Festival is unreasonable & excessive & punishes innocent parties such as workers & small businesses & the public
23 July 2023
We refer to the cancellation of Good Vibes Festival (“GVF”) as ordered by Communications and Digital Minister, Fahmi Fadzil, after the controversial conduct of UK band 1975 during their performance.
While the actions of the foreign band that occurred during GVF was uncouth and unacceptable, the decision to entirely cancel GVF was arbitrary and an overreaction that has ramifications to local artistes and crews of GVF who depend on the festival for their livelihood. They should not be punished for acts that are out of their control.
The organisers had the approval of relevant authorities for the band to perform at the festival, and they cannot entirely be faulted for the spur of the moment actions of the band that happened onstage. According to reports, the band’s performance was cut short after the incident occurred, so necessary action was taken immediately by the organisers.
Prompt action was taken and the offending band has rightly been blacklisted from performing in the country. Why then would there be a need to further punish the organisers and by extension their workers and other artistes who have dedicated their time and resources for the event? It is reported that small businesses will suffer more than RM 50,000 in losses as a result of the cancellation. These are hard-working Malaysians trying to make a living. Having hastily cancelled the event, will the government compensate these innocent parties?
This unholy rush to punish the organisers also fails to take into account that Puspal, which is an agency under Fahmi Fadzil’s ministry, is responsible for approval of foreign artistes. Why push the blame entirely on the organisers Future Sound Asia who worked hard to bring this well-known event to Malaysia? The rush to finger-pointing and blame-throwing by the Ministry is unbecoming.
This raises the question whether the rush by the Govt to ban the entire event is related to the upcoming state elections, in hopes of garnering the votes of conservative voters. If so, this only further solidifies extreme conservatives by pandering to their sensibilities and encouraging their tendency to impose their narrow world-views on the entire country.
Furthermore, instead of clamping down on the organisers, there is a need for the government to ensure that the incident will not be utilised by any quarters for vilification or violence against the LGBTQ community. There is a genuine fear that the political grandstanding of the government to showcase their hard stance on this issue will only legitimise the vilification of the LGBTQ community, especially now with the upcoming state elections. It is the unkindest cut of all that this hard stance upon GVF, with its expected fallout upon the LGBT community, is taken by Fahmi Fadzil, once the poster-boy for the Bangsarite liberal crowd.
We hereby urge the government to review its criteria and options in responding to future infractions by individual performers and bands. Ministers such as Fahmi Fadzil must be restrained in exercising ministerial powers of cancellation or banning of events which should happen only in the rarest of cases; power must be exercised judiciously and fairly without penalising innocent parties. The PH-led government, which was voted in for its promise of change, must not contribute to perpetuating a climate of intolerance in our country.
Issued by:
Zaid Malek
Director
Lawyers for Liberty