Indonesian police refuse permit for Lady Gaga show

JAKARTA - Agence France-Presse

AFP Photo

Indonesian police said Tuesday they would not issue a permit for Lady Gaga's June 3 concert in the capital, after Islamic hardliners vowed not to let the provocative performer set foot in the country.

"We will not issue a permit for the Lady Gaga concert in Jakarta," Saud Usman Nasution, a national police spokesman, told AFP. "The concert will have to be cancelled," he said.
 
Indonesia's hardline Islamic Defenders Front has mounted protests in Jakarta against Lady Gaga, vowing to intercept the "Poker Face" singer at the airport and ensure she does not enter the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.
 
Another national police spokesman said the force had "no problem with Lady Gaga" but could not issue a permit without a letter of recommendation from the Jakarta police, "and they have decided not to do that".
 
The Jakarta city police said they had received objections to the show by the National Ulema Council, Indonesia's top Islamic body.
 
"The first thing we've heard from various public leaders is that Lady Gaga doesn't deserve the attention of so many people," said Jakarta police spokesman Rikwanto.
 
"They said her outfits are too sexy, indulgent and erotic." It was not immediately clear whether the organisers will try to obtain a letter of recommendation from police in an alternative location.
 
Big Daddy Productions, the promoters, have already sold more than 50,000 tickets to the keenly-awaited concert and declined to confirm whether the show, part of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way Ball" tour, had been officially cancelled.
 
Lady Gaga has faced some opposition on her Asia tour but has not toned down her performances -- at shows in Seoul and Hong Kong she has ridden on to the stage on a mechanical horse, wearing a black bodysuit and an enormous black metal headpiece.