By now you must have heard the news about Future Music Festival Asia (FMFA). Its public entertainment license twice rejected by the police, the EDM extravaganza is on the ropes and may not pull through. The reason, according to the buzz-killing authorities, is drugs.
In last year’s edition of FMFA, held in Kuala Lumpur, six attendees died of drug overdose and many others were hospitalised. The police here understandably don’t want their hands – and the tourism board’s naïve impression of a sin-less Singapore – sullied with drug abuse cases. Quaking in their shiny boots, the cops are relying upon this uniquely Singaporean strategy: just ban it.
But this is not Malaysia. ‘These isolated [drug-related] incidents had taken place outside Singapore, and cannot and do not carry any implication that FMFA is in any way linked to drug use nor is it any indication that there will be drug abuse at the event,’ Livescape Singapore, the organisers, said in a statement. ‘FMFA firmly stands behind our goal of creating a drug-free event for our festival-goers to enjoy.’
Livescape is currently appealing to the Minister for Home Affairs Teo Chee Hean, so for now, ticket holders can sit tight until results of the appeal are out this Friday. We just wanna dance, dammit! #KeepFMFAAlive