Taylor Swift fans in Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia blame poor infrastructure, conservative laws for concert snubs

As millions of Taylor Swift fans in Southeast Asia lament missing out on the chance to see the star live in concert following her decision to only play in Singapore, some have blamed poor entertainment infrastructure and religious conservatism in their countries for driving her away.

The US country-pop artist is holding six concert dates in the city state next March as part of her global Eras Tour, several weeks after British rock band Coldplay also performs six shows in Singapore – the longest they will spend in any country for its Music of the Spheres world tour.

“It’s really sad that she only gets to play in Singapore. Taylor’s fan base is huge in the Philippines,” said university student Kheena Thrisia Ligas, a “Swiftie” in Cebu City who cannot afford to fly to Singapore to see her idol.

Swift’s songs are massively popular in the Philippines, topping Spotify charts there for an accumulated 610 days and being crowd favourites at karaoke machines across the nation. Fans have celebrated her Eras tour in drag shows and other events from Luzon to Visayas and Mindanao islands in a bid to persuade her to perform in the Philippines.

Ligas speculated one of the reasons Swift was skipping the Philippines was because it had “no stadium that could accommodate the Eras Tour”.

“I believe this whole fiasco is also because our government only really supports basketball, which explains why our country only has [sports] arenas,” the 22-year-old said. “I think if we want a huge artist like Taylor to come to the Philippines and hold shows, mechanisms or regulations for logistics and venues should also be put into place.”

In neighbouring Indonesia and Malaysia, infrastructure is not the issue, given Jakarta’s Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium that can hold some 77,000 people, while the National Stadium Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur has 85,000 seats. Singapore’s National Stadium has a capacity of 55,000.

But fans point to red tape and political conservatism as factors that put off international performers.

Iqhram, a Swiftie in Malaysia who goes by one name, said after the singer announced her Singapore concert dates, he applied for a credit card that would allow him to register for a chance to get presale tickets.

The 24-year-old fan from Sarawak said he had expected Swift would skip Malaysia because of the “unnecessary bureaucracy in applying for concert permits in Malaysia”.

He noted that artists also had to contend with religious sensitivities from officials. “Having a concert in Kuala Lumpur means organisers or musicians need to bear the risks of last-minute concert cancellations by the government due to political pressure,” said Iqhram.

The Islamist party Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) last month called for Coldplay’s concert in Kuala Lumpur to be cancelled because they believed the band’s support for LGBTQ rights would promote “a culture of hedonism and perversion”.

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According to Iqhram, international musicians should hold their events in Sarawak, where the risk for disruption would be lower than in Kuala Lumpur.

He believed his home state was more liberal because “it is the only territory in Malaysia where Christians outnumber the Muslim population” and it had certain autonomies that meant it did not necessarily have to “follow the policies or concert guidelines” set by the federal government.

Syed Saddiq, Malaysia’s former minister of youth and sports and a current MP, meanwhile rued the economic costs of hosting Coldplay for only one night. “While we’re over here arguing over Malaysia hosting concerts, countries out there are grabbing golden opportunities,” he said.

In Indonesia, Swift’s absence is seen by her fans as a further sign the country is lacking allure when it comes to attracting big names and global events, despite it being the region’s biggest economy and most populous nation.

Indonesian Swifties speculate a culture of rampant scalping could also mean staging shows there might be more trouble for celebrities than it is worth.

“During Coldplay’s [ticket sales], there were several cases that went viral where scalpers used several computers and devices to buy tickets, so the fans were not competing with fellow fans but with scalpers who had more resources,” Okky Sutanto, a self-declared “hardline Swiftie” told This Week in Asia.

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Okky also blamed the lack of decent public transport for international artists opting for Singapore rather than Jakarta, and Indonesia’s flawed track record in crowd management.

He added that threats by hardline groups did not help matters. Last month, religious fundamentalists from the 212 Group threatened to besiege Jakarta’s airport in November in an effort to cancel Coldplay’s show over their support for LGBTQ equality.

Recently, Lionel Messi decided not to join his Argentinian national football team in Jakarta when they played against their Indonesian counterparts on June 19. Indonesia was also stripped of its hosting rights for Fifa’s Under-20 World Cup due to thorny issues relating to Israel’s participation in the tournament.

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In 2012, Lady Gaga axed her concert in Jakarta due to protests by religious groups who viewed her concert as too vulgar.

For its part, Jakarta is aware of the missed opportunities and vows to be more proactive to seek collaboration with global artists and event organisers. Sandiaga Uno, the country’s tourism minister and creative economy, has said he was lobbying Live Nation, Coldplay’s concert promoter, to add an additional date for the band’s show in Jakarta. But the effort remains futile, so far.

Vinsensius Jemadu, deputy for creative products and activities organiser at the tourism ministry, said on Monday that Indonesia would try to meet several conditions asked by world musicians before bringing their tours to the country, such as eradicating scalpers, being more environmentally friendly and applying gender equality principles.

“We have to make sure that Indonesia also applies sustainable principles in every event. We have to make sure that holding events here provides maximum benefits for the community, especially for alleviating poverty,” he said.