Malaysian Police Chief: 'Black Metal' Concert Organizers Did Not Have Permit

Rizalman Hammim of Malaysia's The Malay Mail has issued the following report:

"They can lodge police reports and we will investigate them. If they want to sue us, then we can only wait."

This was the response of Brickfields police chief Assistant Commissioner Dzuraidi Ibrahim to the possibility of being sued by the organisers of a concert [in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia] raided on New Year's Eve.

Dzuraidi said the raid followed a public tip-off on a possible illegal assembly at a site in Jalan Klang Lama.

"Upon further investigations, we found out that the organisers did not have any permit. We also found negative and violent elements at the concert," he said.

Police rounded up 400 people for attending the alleged black metal concert last Saturday. Eight of them were tested positive for dadah.

Dzuraidi said the police would charge five men aged between 19 and 35, believed to be the organisers of the concert, under Section 4(1)(b) of the Entertainment Act for not having an entertainment licence and under Section 4 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act for possession of illegal printed material.

They are the owner of the concert venue, two for selling tickets and two others for selling merchandise at the concert.

"The materials we confiscated included tickets, CDs, T-shirts and flyers," he said.

Dzuraidi was responding to a statement by the organisers that they were considering taking legal action against the police over the raid.

"We are studying the case. If there are grounds to take legal action against the police, we may consider doing so," said Amir Hamzah Arshad, a lawyer and part-time musician.

He said some of those arrested had lodged police reports on the policemen's conduct during the raid.

"Those who made the reports included a Singaporean woman who was having a meal with her family and friends at a nearby shop. She was arrested for taking part in the concert," he said at a press conference organised to clarify media reports linking the concert with black metal activities yesterday.

"We are not black metal followers. We are independent musicians who want to express our music," said Mohd Iskandar Zulkarnain, a recording label owner who acted as the emcee of the concert.

He said most of the musicians who performed at the concert were not involved in drugs and do not smoke or drink.

"These are musicians who are only interested in their music," he said.

Khairuddin Abd Aziz, one of the organisers, denied that the materials confiscated during the raid were related to "black metal."

"Those are T-shirts and materials on the performing bands that the members sold for extra income," he said.