Massive Attack Staff Banned from Entering Singapore After Raising Palestinian Flag

JAKARTA - The British trip-hop music unit, Massive Attack, was sentenced to a permanent ban on entering Singapore.

The local government imposed this strict sanction after the two personnel - Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall - unfurled the Palestinian flag and called for political support in the middle of their concert at The Star Theatre, Singapore.

The Singapore Police Force (SPF) together with the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) confirmed that the action was taken after thorough investigation and consultation with the Singapore Attorney General.

Authorities took firm action against the stage action because it was considered to violate the law regarding the presentation of foreign state symbols without official permission.

The event organizers had actually agreed to all the licensing requirements before the concert took place, but the personnel still waved foreign flags while leading the shouts from the stage.

"Both men will also be banned from re-entering Singapore," said a joint official statement from the Singapore Police and IMDA, quoted by Variety, Monday, August 3.

IMDA emphasized that it was reviewing the alleged violation of the performance permit by the organizer. As a result of the ban on crossing the country's borders, the Singapore media regulatory authority ensured that it would never process or approve an application for a performance permit for Massive Attack in the future.

The Singapore government emphasized that strict rules regarding the display of foreign state symbols were made to maintain social stability, interreligious tolerance, and interethnic harmony in the multiethnic country.

The authorities also asked foreign citizens not to bring foreign political issues into the Singaporean public sphere.

"The peace and harmony between different races and religions in Singapore should not be taken lightly, and we should not allow external events to affect our society," Singapore authorities wrote in their statement.

For information, Massive Attack's solidarity action against Palestine is actually not new in their career record. Robert Del Naja was even arrested by the London police while participating in a demonstration with the Palestine Action activist group in England.

However, the vocal action recorded by the audience and went viral on social media has now resulted in the closure of their music stage access in Singapore forever.