March 24-The Malaysian government, under the pressure from Chinese Embassy to the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage, cancelled the Divine Performing Arts performances that were originally scheduled on March 22 and 23 at Kuala Lumpur Convention Center.
NTDTV Global Media Network Malaysia, the organizer of the Divine Performing Arts show, explained the situation to the public at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre after the event was forced to cancel.
Even though the event organizer advertised on newspapers and held a press conference to inform the public of the cancellation a week ago, some audience members still arrived at the Center around 6 p.m. on the scheduled night. The audience members were not only from all around Malaysia, but from other countries as well. They felt sorry and disappointed at the forced cancellation of the show.
Chinese Tourists Made a Special Trip to Watch the Show
Three tourists from China arrived at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre around 7pm on 22nd. They made a special trip just to watch the show, and rushed to the Center even with their suitcases. They were very disappointed when they were told the performance was canceled.
One of the tourists, Ling Li, said she got to know about the Divine Performing Arts show from the Internet, and had always hoped to see it. Due to the inconvenience, she bought the ticket late. She found the best seats had been sold out when she was ordering her ticket. She then realized that the Divine Performing Arts show is so popular. Therefore, she rushed to buy the ticket, because she thought it was very likely that the tickets would be sold out in several days.
'It's very disappointing'
"I came here very early today. I have been waiting for three hours already. I'm very disappointed to hear that the show has been cancelled. Really, I've been looking forward to watching the Divine Performing Arts show. It is so popular in the world, and I want to find out why. I really want to watch the show, and compare it with other shows," said Ling Li in an interview:
"I don't understand why it was cancelled. So many people want to see it. I just met a Chinese couple who came all the way from Melbourne to watch the show, and I got the cancellation news from them. This is very disappointing."
She said:" I just hope the Chinese government wouldn't do this any more. You should allow everyone to have the freedom of expression if you want harmony in the society or the world."
'Tourists will lose confidence in our government'
Joanne, from Port Klang, Malaysia, is the executive director of the Universal Logistic Agency. On the night of the 22nd, she specially brought her mother from Perak to watch the Divine Performing Arts performance. She said in the interview, "As a member of the audience, I am very disappointed to hear what happened. I feel ashamed for Malaysia."
"They arrived from all around the world to watch this show and to explore the tourist sites of Malaysia. Because of the unfortunate events that happened, however, I feel that tourists will lose confidence in our government."
'I hope that Divine Performing Arts will return to Malaysia soon'
Mrs. Xu from Petaling Jaya says that she was so mesmerized by the beautiful advertisement for Divine Performing Arts performance that she saw a month ago that she immediately bought tickets. However, she was very disappointed when she found out that the show she had been so longing to see was cancelled. She felt that she could not wait until next year to watch the show.
"I hope that Divine Performing Arts will return to Malaysia soon." She said. Finally, Mrs. Xu took a few copies of special newspaper issues featuring Divine Performing Arts as souvenirs for her neighbours and herself.
Taken Leave Especially to See the Show
A mother and daughter from India flew to Malaysia to attend the Divine Performing Arts performance. Chitra B. Devnani said in her interview, "I came to Malaysia especially to watch the show. I felt that Malaysia was a beautiful place that was worth touring and attending a show at. I had no idea that something like this would happen, and feel deeply heartbroken that it did happen. My daughter even took a leave of absence just for the show."
Dutch Family Planning to Attend Show
The Heises' are a Dutch family of five. The grandparents arrived from the Netherlands to attend the show with their daughter and two grandchildren on the 23rd. They were deeply disappointed when they learned the show has been cancelled.
'This Show is the pride of the Chinese'
Li Ximin is a businesswoman from Kuala Lumpur, who remarked during her interview, "I feel that this would have been a marvellous performance, having learned Chinese dance myself. This is also an example of Chinese tradition and is the pride of the Chinese. I feel that it is very unfortunate that the show has been canceled."
Malaysian Issues Apology but No Permit
On March 26, the Malaysia Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage apologized to the organizer and audiences for the cancellation of Divine Performing Arts Chinese Spectacular shows in Kuala Lumpur. The Ministry published an open statement through the mainstream newspapers, explaining the reasons behind the cancellation.
However, the Ministry refused to issue the performance permit to the organizer despite the apology to the audience members.
For information about upcoming Divine Performing Arts shows, please visit:
www.BestChineseShows.com.
The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of the Chinese Spectacular. For our complete coverage please visit:
http://en.epochtimes.com/features/dpa2008/
 Ms. Ling: "The Chinese Communist Party makes too many enemies in the world for interfering a wonderful performance like this." (The Epoch Times)
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 Vijaya Mishra came all the way from India to watch the show, expressed her disappointment when she learned the show has been cancelled due to pressure by Chinese Embassy. (The Epoch Times)
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