DAPSY strongly disagrees with the stance of PAS Youth to seek a ban on the Elton John concert in Malaysia

DAPSY wishes to state our strong disagreement with PAS Youth for their attempt to pressure the authorities to ban the Elton John concert in Genting Highlands.

While we respect their freedom of opinion, DAPSY feels that taking such a step will only provide fodder to Barisan Nasional and the mainstream media to continue to paint a negative picture of PAS Youth as a backward and regressive youth movement. This will surely not help Pakatan Rakyat to convince Malaysians that we are a progressive and moderate coalition of parties that are ready to replace BN as the federal government.

PAS Youth’s reason that allowing Elton John to perform in Malaysia will lead to the rise of homosexuality and other social ills due to his sexual orientation is both simplistic and unacceptable. Those who are attending the concert are there to watch him perform and enjoy his music, they are not there to show support nor be influenced by his sexual orientation.

Banning a concert is not the solution to tackle Malaysia’s social ills. PAS Youth should focus more on educational and awareness campaigns instead of imposing its views and values on young people.

Therefore, DAPSY calls on PAS Youth to cancel its plan to protest against the concert and change its approach in addressing and tackling social problems. DAPSY fully support the staging of the concert as planned and sees no reasons why the authorities should withdraw the permit for the concert.

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