The Ministry of Communications and Digital (KKD) has asked concert organisers for overseas artists to create a ‘Kill Switch’ to prevent the incident committed by The 1975 group at Good Vibes Festival 2023 from happening again.
Deputy Minister, Teo Nie Ching said, the Kill Switch was to stop the concert or cut off the electricity supply so that the performance could not be carried out.
“This matter is a guideline from the incident (The 1975) and we (KKD) hope that with stricter guidelines, we can ensure that performances performed by foreign artists can follow the culture in Malaysia,” she said during a question and answer session at Dewan Rakyat on Monday.
She said this when answering a supplementary question from Zulkifli Ismail (PN-Jasin) who wanted to know the government’s steps in improving the censorship and blacklisting of the group The 1975 who performed indecent acts against the younger generation and the government’s actions against the group after continuing to criticise Malaysia when making concerts abroad.
Meanwhile, Nie Ching said that the Royal Malaysian Police always helps them in checking the background of foreign artists to ensure that they do not promote negative elements in Malaysia.
“In addition, during the organization of the concert, Puspal (Foreign Film Filming Application Agency and Overseas Artist Performance) will ensure that the Puspal committee will be placed at the location (concert) together with PDRM (Royal Malaysian Police) and PBT (local authorities) to monitor the concert that,” she said.
Last July 22, the media reported that The 1975’s performance at the Good Vibes Festival 2023 in Sepang was stopped after its vocalist Matty Healy showed various disrespectful actions in front of the fans.
He was charged with holding a bottle of alcohol while on stage, as well as making insulting remarks against Malaysian laws related to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBT).
