The Najib administration wants to turn Malaysia into a major nightlife hub to boost its tourism industry under the Economic Transformation Plan (ETP).
This will see the establishment of several major nightclubs, the hosting more major concerts, relaxing of guidelines for performers and the “repackaging” of international events such as Formula 1 and MotoGP.
According to the ETP roadmap released yesterday, this is part of the government’s 12 entry-point projects (EPP) to resolve the problem of having steadily increasing tourist arrivals, but being hampered by a relatively low yield.
This move is likely to see political repercussions from religiousconservatives who regularly protest against concerts by international stars, with openly gay US pop sensation Adam Lambert being the latest target.
One of the 12 EPPs involves the relaxing of stringent guidelines for concerts and international events, which currently keep many foreign performers away, but are yet panned by critics as being too lax.