Islamic fundamentalists urged the government on Wednesday to bar a concert by the German rock group Scorpions, claiming the band would corrupt Malaysian youths. "Concerts like these are the catalysts for hedonism and vice in society," Salahuddin Haji Ayub, a youth leader of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, said in a protest note to the Religious Affairs Department. "Research has shown how the crumbling of self-worth, morals and dignity in young people begin from deviant programmes like these," said the statement. There was no immediate response from the government of this moderate, predominantly Muslim Southeast Asian country and promoters said that they planned to go ahead with the concert Sept 13 at a 50,000-seat stadium. The party claimed that the concert comes a day after the Muslim holy day commemorating the Prophet Mohammed's ascension to heaven and therefore "insults Islam."
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Selina Kok, spokeswoman for concert organiser Star Planet, said the Islamic party was being unfair. "These guys are rockers, no doubt, but they've been around for years and people know they are a healthy band," she said. Kok said that the organizers would work with the department should any changes be proposed. The fundamentalist party, which was obliterated as an opposition force in elections in March, has previously protested concerts by artists like Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey and Linkin Park. None was banned, but Jackson changed the city where he performed in 1996, and some entertainers have agreed to more modest dress. Linkin Park was told not to scream too much. |
