Islamist Party Objects To MEGADETH's Concert In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

According to The Star Online, the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) Youth has voiced its objection to the MEGADETH concert on May 4 at Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The wing’s information chief Hishamuddin Abdul Karim said the approval for the show was given without taking into consideration the negative effects bands like MEGADETH have on the audience.

“We view this oversight very seriously and it is in violation of the guidelines on entertainment in the perspective of Islam published by Jakim (the Malaysian Islamic Development Department) and endorsed by the National Fatwa Committee at their 107th meeting in February 2015,” Hishamudin said in a statement on Wednesday.

He, however, denied that the party had anything to do with posters spread on social media featuring newly elected PAS Youth chief Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi with an invitation for people to protest against the concert.

“I want to clearly state here that the posters are meant to discredit our leader and he is not involved with them in any way,” he said.

MEGADETH‘s May 4 concert in Kuala Lumpur will be the band’s debut performance in Malaysia since their ban was lifted as the group was previously banned from performing in the country back in 2001.

“I’m super thrilled about this,” MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine said.

“We had been banned in Malaysia because of some knobhead in a remote area had conducted a black metal séance of some sort and killed somebody, then gave us the indubitable honor of spray painting MEGADETH and SLAYER on the wall,” he continued.

PAS has previously protested against other concerts before, which it viewed as going against Islamic decorum.

Calls to ban concerts over moral concerns are not uncommon in the Muslim country. In 2013, the aforementioned Jakim raised objection to a planned LAMB OF GOD concert in Malaysia, claiming that the band’s music was a mix of metal songs with the reading of verses from the Quran. Jakim‘s director-general, Datuk Othman Mustapha, said the objection was in accordance with the decision of the Fatwa (Edicts) Committee that the practices and acts of black metal groups were misguided and contrary to the true teachings of Islam. Othman hoped that the authorities would not approve the performance by taking into consideration the sensitivities of Muslims and to ensure that it did not open up crises related to faith and morality.

In 2015, British extreme metallers CARCASS upset some of their Malaysian fans by posting picture of the Malaysian flag upside down after the band failed to get visas for a show in the country.

An inverted flag is usually used in distress situations or sometimes as a form of protest.