By Karen Bong
KUCHING, March 22: Sarawak will “mati” (die) if it follows Federal regulatory orders entirely in relation to foreign acts and concerts, says Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
Abdul Karim insists that the region remain open and flexible so long as events are properly regulated and does not involve extreme acts, such as naked performers on stage.
Highlighting this, he emphasised that there is no way Sarawak will let the Federal authorities dictate what should and should not be done in this region as the Sarawak government has a certain degree of autonomy in decision making.
“If you leave it to Kuala Lumpur, (where ) even Oktoberfest cannot be held and even wishing Merry Christmas and Gong Xi Fa Cai also cannot, how can we let these people dictate us, no way.
“You let them dictate us, ‘mati oh’,” he told reporters when officiating at the D’Drift 2023 Lauch ceremony at DayakDaily’s office in TT3 Plaza here today.
He was commenting on the stricter rules for foreign artistes perfoming in Malaysia, with a ban on crossdressing for male foreign artistes introduced by the Communications and Digital Ministry recently.
While he noted that the Federal authorities can set the rules and guidelines, Abdul Karim, who is also the Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development, however pointed out that Sarawak will not blindly or entirely follow the regulatory orders and practices by its Federal counterpart.
“If you are to bind yourself to the Ministry’s rules, it becomes like that. But we have never bound ourselves because we can also set the guidelines.
“But of course I won’t want to see naked performers on stage. There are certain rules to protect local sensitivities but at the same time, we must also be flexible,” he said.
Referring to the successful Borneo Music Festival (BMF) which featured DJ Alan Walker and DJ Soda held at Sarawak Cultural Village (SCV) in September last year, Abdul Karim said there was no way they could get the permit if it was to be done in Kuala Lumpur.
“Alan Walker and DJ Soda played electronic dance music. which many associate with drug taking. But things were very good throughout the two-day event. The enforcement team along with sniffer dogs were down there at SCV to conduct checks on everyone who attended the event.
“This reflects our proper organisation of music events in Sarawak. This also reflected that we have some degree of independence or autonomy in decision making on such events,” he said.
Meanwhile, the new Federal government’s guidelines on concerts and live shows in Malaysia that aims to protect local sensitivities also stipulated that large-scale concerts and live performances by international acts cannot take place on the night before an Islamic public holiday and on the actual date of such occasions.
Among the examples of Islamic occasions listed in the guidelines are the entire month of Ramadan, on Awal Muharram, Maulidur Rasul, Isra’ Mikraj, Nisfu Sya’ban, Nuzul Al-Quran, Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Hari Raya Aidiladha.
The new guidelines also reduced the ‘blackout dates’ for shows during Merdeka Day and Malaysia Day celebrations. — DayakDaily
