Members of an opposition Islamic party have called on Muslim-majority Malaysia to ban next month’s concert by Elton John, saying Tuesday that the gay singer promotes “hedonism”. Shahril Azman Abdul Halim Al-Hafiz, an official with the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), said the concert at the Genting Highlands resort on November 22 would corrupt young Muslims because of John’s homosexuality. “It’s not good.
In Islam homosexuality is forbidden,” he told AFP. “What he is doing is hedonism. Hedonism is not good in Islam.” The British singer is openly gay, marrying his partner in 2005 after same-sex unions were legalised in Britain. Shahril is the chairman of the PAS youth wing of eastern Pahang state. The casino resort lies on the border of the state, about an hour’s drive from the capital Kuala Lumpur. An official from concert promoter Tune Live declined to comment. But the show, part of John’s ‘Greatest Hits Tour’, is expected to go ahead in the resort.
John will be singing in Singapore before he comes to Malaysia and then go on to Jakarta. PAS often protests concert by Western acts, saying the artists promote a promiscuous lifestyle and corrupt youngsters’ minds. But despite protest threats, most concerts have gone ahead without incidents though performers had to abide by strict rules, barring them from bearing too much skin and kissing on stage.
