JAKARTA, Indonesia– On Friday, dozens of traditional Muslims protested in the nation’s capital, demanding that Coldplay cancel its upcoming performance due to the British band supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
Coldplay is known for fusing its principles with its performances, such as the band’s efforts to promote sustainability in the environment. Chris Martin, a lead singer, has been known to display rainbows colours and gay pride flags while performing.
On November 15, Coldplay will perform at Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno facility as part of their” Music Of The Spheres World Tour” Asian leg. When selling opened in May, more than 70,000 tickets were purchased in less than two days.
With 1.6 million followers in the capital, Jakarta is one of the band’s major streaming hotspots.
Coldplay’s show, according to critics, is suggestive, and the band threatens to weaken Indonesian moral character and corrupt its junior by supporting the LGBTQ+ area.
After Friday prayer, almost 100 demonstrators filled a main street in Jakarta, many of whom were holding banners and signs.
As they marched to the strongly guarded British Embassy in Jakarta, the protesters, who were organized by the Islamist organization the 212 Brotherhood Alumni and whose name is a play on the large demonstrations against the divisive Christian politician Basuki Tjahaja Purnama on December 2, 2016, chanted” God is Fantastic” and” We reject Coldplay.”
Hery Susanto, a rebel from the town of Bandung in West Java, said,” We are here to protect our younger generation in this country from work that was crooked youth.” ” We have to accept the Coldplay music as Indonesian Muslims.”
The opposition consultant Novel Bamukmin delivered a speech denouncing the authorities for allowing the band to perform in Indonesia, the nation with the highest Muslim-majority population in the world. Thousands of protesters, he claimed, would challenge the band as they left the airport if the concert was no canceled.
Standing on the top of a vehicle, Bamukmin declared,” We must accept their plan, their musical here,” adding that” Coldplay has long been an outspoken supporter of LGBT and its result song is an atheist.”
Martin has referred to himself as an” Alltheist,” a term used to describe broad spiritual convictions that do n’t belong to any particular religion.
Sandiaga Uno, the minister of tourism and innovative business for Indonesia, assured Coldplay fans that there would be no disruptions to the performance.
Uno had stated in May that he would explain to people trying to stop the demonstrate that the music would help revive the nation’s economy, which has suffered since the coronavirus pandemic, and that” We will make sure there are no dangers coming from any team.”
The most powerful Muslim organization in the nation, the Indonesian Ulema Council, urged PK Entertainment to make sure that no LGBTQ-themed performances or emails took place during the concert on Wednesday.
World-class players like Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes, The Backstreet Boys, and Justin Bieber have been brought to Indonesia by PK Entertainment, which was established in 2015. The business and one of its founders, Peter Harjani, were unavailable for remark.
The company posted routine data for Beyonce fans on its website and social media websites on Friday, including instructions on how to purchase e-tickets for the music.
Despite Indonesia’s secularism and longer history of religious tolerance, a little extremist fringe has recently gained more notoriety.
In 2012, Lady Gaga canceled her sold-out performance in Indonesia due to security concerns after Muslim hard-liners threatened crime if she continued to perform at her” Born This Way Ball” music.
The 1975, a British music stone group, postponed its performances in Jakarta and Taipei after the Indonesian government halted the country’s music festival in response to the lead singer slamming the anti-gay laws and kissing another female band member during the performance.
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This report was written by Edna Tarigan of the Associated Press in Jakarta, Indonesia.
