BBC have reported that Lady GaGa has been denied a permit to perform in Indonesia during her worldwide Born This Way Ball tour.
The show is currently scheduled for June 3, 2012 at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia. BBC reported that the permit will not be issued by Indonesian police due to security concerns that the hardline group Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) will disrupt proceedings.
The FPI has campaigned against the concert on moral grounds and threatened to intercept Lady Gaga at Jakarta Airport should the concert go ahead.
Jakarta head of the FPI, Habib Salim Alatas, reportedly said that Lady Gaga’s attire and performance style are a “dangerous” influence on the youth of Indonesia.
“She’s a vulgar singer who wears only panties and a bra when she sings”, Mr Alatas said.
Indonesian Police Spokesperson, Saut Nasution, said that prevention is better then dealing with the possible consequences.
“It is better that we don’t give permission rather than that [the concert] ends up being stopped by the people. We have already received a letter requesting us to consider the people’s plea [for cancellation]”, Mr Nasution said.
“And the Jakarta Police also refused to recommend a permit for the concert because we don’t want people to clash [on the matter]”, he said.
As reported by Rolling Stone, it’s common practice in Jakarta for tickets to go on sale before permits are issued. As a result, the stadium, which can hold over 50,000 individuals at capacity, sold out and is set to be the largest show on Lady GaGa’s Asian tour.
Not surprisingly, the permit denial has caused a tremendous stir amongst ticket holders and the wider general public.
Billboard Biz reported that ticket holder Mariska Renata said she is very disappointed by the decision to give in to the FPI and thus reinforce their conservative views.
“We are mature enough to be able to separate our own moral values from arts and culture”, Renata said.
A Twitter trend under the title of #IndonesiaSavesGaga has also begun in the hopes of overturning the decision to cancel the concert. The online campaign is constantly updated with tweets like the following:
We DO NOT want our money back!! WE WANT our Mother Monster back to us! #IndonesiaSavesGaga pleaseeee 3-|
— Mr Frans Bennington (@fran_bennington) May 16, 2012
You wouldn’t be happy if you found out the BTW Ball in your country got canceled, would you? #IndonesiaSavesGaga
— Tobey | Lady Gaga (@tobeymonster) May 15, 2012
At this stage there has been no official statement from Lady Gaga or the show’s organisers. It is also unclear if refunds will be issued should the show remain cancelled.
The official Born This Way Ball website still features the gig on the tour dates list.
