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| AFTER POLICE REVOKED THE PERMIT FOR THE EVENT TO BE HELD AT SIC ORGANISERS HAVE CHANGED THE EVENT TO A NEW VENUE AT STARXPO CENTRE. |
In a disappointing turn of events, the upcoming KL Urban Music & Art Festival aka Tower Rocks will not be taking place at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC), on the 2nd of April as originally planned. This news was brought to our attention when local politician, and member of an NGO called BANGKIT (Rise), Eddy Casmady, posted an image of an official police letter that stated they had decided to revoke the permit that had originally allowed the organisers to host the event at SIC in the first place.
The letter states: “It is with much regret that we have to revoke the permit that was originally issued to the organisers immediately in regards to safety concerns, and to maintain unity among the multiple races in the country.” Eddy posted that picture with a post that said: “According to police headquarters of Sepang, the permit for KL Urban Music & Art Festival is cancelled. Congratulations!”
The police revoked the event permit by issuing this letter to the organisers
“Congratulations also to the UMNO (United Malay National Organisation) youth chief of Sepang, the police force of Sepang, the Sepang Municipal Council and the state of Selangor for their concern regarding this issue.”
Eddy has been on a holy crusade for weeks to make sure this event doesn’t take place in Sepang. He listed issues like drug abuse, excessive consumption of alcohol, and the freedom for both sexes to fraternise with each other as the social ills that often take place at these events. He even went the extra mile on suggesting that the festival also promotes homosexuality by including a trolling photo of Kanye West kissing himself.
The budding politician has been getting backlash from his Facebook followers for his ‘noble’ intentions. Some have dared him to close down the nightclubs, and gambling dens that are littered in the country, and some have even challenged him to start a campaign on closing down the beer factories in the state of Selangor if moral degradation is his concern.
Eddy Casmady posted this picture gf the men who issued a police report for the cancellation of the festival on his Facebook page
The cancellation of the event permit is quite a shocker, especially to the organisers. Mohd Izwan, who is part of the organising team said he was very surprised that they had decided to revoke their permit. Especially when they have adhered to all the requirements for hosting an outdoor event. Everything seemed to be smooth sailing when they received the approval from the police two weeks ago.
The next step was to present the letter to the Sepang Municipal Council to their approval. They did the necessary and met up with the municipal council to explain the nature of their event. At this point, neither one of the authorities objected their request. The organisers thought that there was no issue with their event. That was until Tuesday. They were alerted by the police that they had to come down to the station on Wednesday morning.
“I went down to meet them at the police station. Without even giving me the opportunity to talk about our event, they issued me a letter that had already been signed in regards of revoking our permit,” Izwan says. The police informed him that they had received a police report from the UMNO youth chief of Sepang protesting on the event being held in Sepang with false allegations.
Harmless activities but labelled as 'morally degrading' by Eddy Casmady
“Their police report states that our event will degrade the moral values of the Malay youth,” he continues. The report echoes the exact same thing that Eddy’s NGO has been barking for weeks. This certainly baffles Izwan, especially when they have successfully organised three editions of the festival without any problems.
Past events were held at the premises of Kuala Lumpur Tower, which is situated in the heart of the capital city. As the number of festival revellers increase, moving it to a larger venue like SIC seemed like the best idea. “I don’t know how the police carry out their investigations, especially we have had a good track record for the past three years. How is the fourth one different? We have gone through the same procedures as we did before,” he frustratingly says.
“So basically, they revoked our permit based on assumptions and false allegations posed by the NGO without bothering to do any proper investigation.” One of their allegations is that the festival promotes the consumption of alcohol, and this is what angers Izwan. The festival has never sold any form of alcoholic beverages in their past events, and the organisers intend to keep it that way for the upcoming edition.
Their intentions has always been about promoting local artists, and entrepreneurs. Last year, the festival garnered 7, 000 party punters. The success of the festival has seen an increase of interest by corporations. This year, they have successfully gotten Tag Heuer on board. Despite this setback, the brand is still in support of the event. “If Eddy is so concerned about our event contributing to the moral degradation of the Malay youth, he shouldn’t pick and choose which parties should be shot down. There are other outdoor, and indoor EDM events coming up too. Why not target them too, why us?” he stresses.
Izwan, and his team are currently working hard to find another venue for the festival. They are also coming up with new ideas on how to make it worth the money that the customers have already paid. He does have a message for all the ticket buyers and supporters: “I would like to express my sincerest apologies for this unfortunate setback. However, this is not the end. We are still fighting for our rights to party, and we are also going to add something extra special for all our patrons.”
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