THE authorities should have arrested members of British band, The 1975, for its disrespectful actions on stage at the Good Vibes Festival, said opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin.

He said the government should not have allowed the band to perform in Malaysia in the first place

Speaking at a Perikatan Nasional event last night, he slammed the unity government for its failure to act against the band while it persecuted members of his coalition.

Hamzah said the police were quick to arrest caretaker Kedah menteri besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor for sedition.

“Sanusi ‘buat salah sikit’ (made a little mistake) and they arrested him at 3am,” he said.

“But this band, I don’t know if the police had even arrested them. They committed many offences but they were not even detained.

“This is the kind of government we have today, one that practises double standards. This is why we do not want them to be in power anymore,” Hamzah was quoted as saying by Malaysiakini.

During the band’s performance on Friday, The 1975 frontman Matt Healy had criticised Malaysia’s LGBT laws.

He also kissed his male bandmate, Ross MacDonald, on stage, and was seen drinking from a bottle believed to contain alcohol.

Witnessed alleged that Healy had spat onstage and damaged a camera drone operated by the festival crew.

Hamzah, who is a former home minister, said he did not allow controversial groups such as The 1975 into Malaysia when he was in power.

The government, he added, should have rejected the band’s application in the first place. – July 24, 2023.