You guys remember how the Future Music Festival Asia (FMFA) last year was canceled halfway through because of drug abuse that led to 6 people dying and another 16 people hospitalized right?
I can understand why the authorities in Malaysia had to shut it down. 6 people had died and 16 other people had been hospitalized… it wasn’t a trivial thing. Perhaps precautions had to be taken and there just wasn’t enough time to do it all before the party starts the next day.
My heart however went out to the people affected by the shutdown. No not just the party goers who had come from as far as Australia just for FMFA, but the entrepreneurs behind it. The entrepreneurs who saw a good event and put money and effort behind bringing it to Malaysia only to see it canceled and potentially losing a lot of money in the process.
As an entrepreneur I feel sad whenever I see other fellow entrepreneurs who do good work go through hardship because of things out of their control and in that moment I felt it for them too. Except that I didn’t know who “them” is. So I googled it and came across the name Iqbal Ameer who is the Group CEO of Livescape.
Livescape then went on to do other cool stuff. “It’s The Ship” being one of the other parties they did and then eventually news broke out that FMFA 2015 was going to be in Singapore. Perhaps they would have better luck then.
Then just a few days ago I saw this statement that they released:
FMFA15 OFFICIAL STATEMENT 7TH MARCH 2015
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| We are extremely disappointed that our appeal to the Ministry of Home Affairs to organise Future Music Festival Asia 2015 (FMFA15) in Singapore has been unsuccessful. We can confirm that we have received the official rejection of our appeal. FMFA firmly stands behind our goal of creating a drug-free event for our festival goers to enjoy. Despite having put in place a robust event, security, safety and medical management plan which has been developed alongside both local and international experts with a combined 50 years of experience in running similar large-scale events, our Public Entertainment License has not been granted. The plans that have been developed far exceeds international standards.We emphasise that the safety and security of our festival goers are of utmost importance and will continue to be our number one priority. Regarding concerns the authorities may have about the drug-related incidents that took place in Malaysia last year, we reiterate that these were isolated incidents that took place outside Singapore, which cannot and do not carry any implication that FMFA is linked to drug use or drug abuse.
In light of this development, we are assessing all options and formulating our next course of action, including options for ticket refunds. Full details of this will be made available over the next few days.
To the fans there are no words in this world that can describe our eternal gratitude to you. We called, and you answered. Your response to #KeepFMFAAlive has brought tears to all of us at FMFA. We are humbled, and we are grateful. In the last 48 hours you showed the world that music truly unites. Music has the ability to unite people from across different cultures, background and races. Music has the ability to forge unity, friendship and love. Music itself is noble. Music can be a change for good. And over the past 48 hours you have been a living testament to that very belief. We are doing everything we can to work out a viable solution to this issue. |
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and this
OFFICIAL STATEMENT 8TH MARCH 2015: FMFA15 CANCELLATION
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| Update, 6.55PM, Sunday, 8 March 2015: The organisers of Future Music Festival Asia 2015 are saddened to announce that we have had to cancel the festival which was scheduled to be held this Friday and Saturday, March 13 & 14, at the Changi Exhibition Centre in Singapore.Full ticket refunds will now be made to all FMFA ticket buyers, details of which will be madeavailable by Monday evening. We are also aware of the many fans overseas that have made travel arrangements into Singapore for the festival. We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience you have been put through.At the moment, we have set up a care team to help answer your concerns directly. Our care team can be reached atsupport@futuremusicfestival.asia.
FMFA wishes to thank all artistes and event suppliers for their incredibly hard work and support during the last few days.
To the fans, we thank you for your patience and support. |
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I put myself in Iqbal’s shoes and I’m thinking “I can’t seem to catch a break here”. I don’t understand why Livescape failed to get approval this time round. I mean if an adult drowns in a public swimming pool, it’s a tragedy but what do you do? Do you ban all public swimming pools in the country? Or do you add more lifeguards and take more precautions to prevent things like happening like that.
Was Livescape given a chance to take these precautions? To better police their own events to make sure it was drug free?
I hope the people at Livescape find better luck in any future projects they do. Keep it up Livescape… don’t let another setback hold you down.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space