KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has come out to explain why the 21,000 seats at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium have to remain vacant for the first leg of the ASEAN Football Federation Cup (AFF) 2022 semi-final clash between Malaysia and Thailand this Saturday (Jan 7).
In an interview with Bernama on Thursday, the minister said that this is due to the installation of an international-scale concert stage which was booked from March 2019.
The stadium had been booked by the organisers of a tour by famous Taiwanese artist Jay Chou whose show performance requires the installation of a stage involving a large crew.
“I have received an explanation (that) this installation work involves 14 days involving 500 crew members, as well as 185 international crew members entering Malaysia just for the setup,” said Ms Yeoh, adding that the concert production also involved 45 heavy machinery, 200 speakers and 800 lights.
“So it is not like a normal stage tent that we can install (or) open at will,” she added.
According to the minister, both the football match and the concert have a strong base in Malaysia.
“We want to give all the support to (Malaysian national team) Harimau Malaya this Saturday, as well as the concert that has been booked earlier,” she said.
Ms Yeoh expressed her hope that football fans could accept the fact that it was impossible to change the situation at the stadium.
The vacancy of seats at the national stadium received criticism from football fans in the country after the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) said on Wednesday that 21,000 seats could not be utilised due to the ongoing installation of the stage.
Netizens have asked if the stage can be disassembled for the football match, while fans of Jay Chou have leapt to his defence by pointing out that the concert has been delayed for three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: CNA
