The lead vocalist of the pop song, “Robbers” from the 1975 English band made headlines for his actions at the Good Vibes Festival 2023, where he performed while holding a bottle of liquor, used provocative language, destroyed equipment and criticised Malaysia’s anti-LGBT laws, before planting a kiss on his male band mate’s lips[1].
This led to the immediate cancellation of the Good Vibes Festival 2023 by the Ministry of Communications and Digital (“Ministry”) for not complying with the local performance guidelines.
While most of us heard of what transpired at the Good Vibes Festival 2023 and have formulated our respective views on it, it is also important to know the guidelines for foreign artistes who are performing in Malaysia so that one understands the Ministry’s decision for cancelling the festival. These guidelines are published by the Central Agency for Application for Foreign Filming and Performance by Foreign Artistes (PUSPAL) (“Guidelines”).
The Guidelines set out among others, the code of ethics to be observed by foreign artistes at concerts. Foreign artistes are prohibited from displaying actions and speech that may cause discomfort to the audience and that touch upon religious and social sensitivities, and which are contrary to the cultural values of the local society such as:
- Performing in a wild manner, provocatively and displaying actions that are contrary to the performance code of ethics.
- Throwing objects towards the audience.
- Displaying actions or speech that is indecent, with provocative acts such as hugging, kissing a member of the audience or carrying out such actions among themselves.
- Performing actions or making utterances that may be deemed as seditious, calling on the audience to be proud of a particular class of society or religion in the context of racial polarisation that may affect the country’s stability.
- Entering the seated area of the visitors and/or treating the visitors and/or sitting together with the visitors.
It has been reported that the band was fully aware of the Guidelines and had even given a written undertaking to adhere to it. Given that Matty Healy wilfully breached the code of ethics under the Guidelines, it was no surprise that the festival was brought to a grinding halt. It is one matter that Matty Healy may not have agreed with the Guidelines, in which case the band should not have given the written undertaking and could have chosen not to perform in Malaysia. It is quite another matter for Matty Healy to audaciously violate the Guidelines.
It is unfortunate that the singer’s actions also robbed other artistes and vendors of their income and the concertgoers a good time. One can only hope that such incident does not happen again.
[1] https://www.thesundaily.my/home/fahmi-good-vibes-festival-cancelled-FE11267561 & https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2023/07/22/good-vibes-festival-cancelled-says-fahmi/
About the Author
Poon Wei Ying is a Senior Associate of XK Law who graduated with First Class Honours from the Cardiff University, United Kingdom. She believes in giving back to the society and that education can change a person’s life.
