Oh shibby.
News is now surfacing that the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has rejected an application to hold The Better Beer Festival 2017.
For those of you who are not in the know, The Better Beer Festival the biggest celebration of the craft beer revolution in Malaysia with a huge range of small-batch beers, festival food, and a rocking live music lineup. It started in 2012 at Taps Beer Bar in Kuala Lumpur, and had about 200 participants. Last year, The Better Beer Festival had 3,500 participants. Now in its 6th edition, the festival will feature 43 independent breweries across 12 countries that are expected to showcase 250 different craft beers.
According to Sinar Harian, DBKL’s corporate planning department director Khalid Zakaria confirmed that the application was received on 28th August 2017. However, DBKL decided to reject the application. “The application to hold this activity at the place, time, and date specified was not approved. If the organisations were to proceed, DBKL has the right to take action under the provisions of the existing law,” he said. No reasons were given, and Khalid did not elaborate if the rejection had anything to do with the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) objecting to the event.
The Better Beer Festival organisers have since released an official statement regarding the above issue, which states, “It is with disappointment that we, the organisers of The Better Beer Festival 2017, would like to announce that the festival, slated to be held on 6th and 7th October 2017, will not be proceeding as scheduled.”
“At our meeting with the officials at the Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, we were instructed to cancel our event as there are issues with the licensing. We were further informed that the decision was made due to the political sensitivity surrounding the event,” the organisers went on to explain.
“We regret any inconvenience caused to our patrons, partners and sponsors, and thank you for your unwavering support over the last week,” they added.
Source: Sinar Harian / Featured image: The Better Beer Festival.
