Big Daddy Productions refuses to back down despite the opposition from conservative groups and permit issue from the national police.
- May 16, 2012
AceShowbiz - There's still hope that Lady GaGa will perform in Indonesia despite the permit and opposition issues. Promoter Big Daddy Productions recently posted a message on its Twitter page to inform Little Monsters that they were fighting to get the concert allowed to be held as scheduled.
"Little monsters, be patient please. We will keep you updated. We are still fighting," the company tweeted. Its spokesman Arif Ramadhoni additionally told AFP, "We are still in the process of finding a way to do it, and we ask for everyone's patience and forgiveness for the trouble."
The president director of the company Michael Rusli, meanwhile, responded to reports suggesting that permit for the concert was denied. "Our permit application process is still ongoing," he clarified to the Jakarta Globe. "We will update again as new developments occur."
"We have received a lot of input and comments - both positive and negative - from different parts of the public," he added. "We appreciate the feedback and will digest it over the next few days. It is also our intention to provide clarification, if necessary, to any misinformation."
When contacted by AFP, the national police, however, said through its spokesman Saud Usman Nasution, "We still deny the organizers the permit. The Jakarta police have said they do not recommend the Lady GaGa performance here, and they are the ones responsible for security, so there's no way around it."
The concert, which was part of "Born This Way" promo tour, was supposed to take place on June 3 at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta. 52,000 tickets were sold out in just two weeks, and due to the overwhelming demand, the promoter announced the release of an additional 2,000 tickets on Monday.
The gig drew harsh protests from Islamic and Christian hard-liners as well as some conservative politicians. One of the protesters, Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), threatened to create "chaos" and mobilize 30,000 people to block the Mother Monster. "We are ready to be thrown to jail and be killed -- we will do anything to stop it," said its chairman Habib Salim Alatas.
