Pop music icon Lady Gaga's upcoming show in Indonesia has officially been scrapped due to security concerns after radical Islamists vowed violence if she entered the planet's most populous Muslim nation.
Fearing her skimpy wardrobe and suggestive dance moves may corrupt the country's youth, Islamic "hard-liners" assembled and took to the streets, holding up signs and chanting phrases such as "Go to hell Lady Gaga" to protest her sold-out June 3 concert in Jakarta, according to an Associated Press report.
However, others were reportedly willing to go well beyond that particular brand of protest as violent threats were hurled at the controversial and sometimes intentionally offensive pop star.
The Blaze previously reported on comments made by Habib Rizieq Syihab, the head of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), an Islamic pressure group in Indonesia, who threatened to stop Gaga at the airport and assemble 30,000 people to attack her concert.
"With threats if the concert goes ahead, Lady Gaga's side is calling off the concert. This is not only about Lady Gaga's security, but extends to those who will be watching her," concert promotion lawyer Minola Sebayang told the AP.
Gaga tweeted about the show's cancellation early Sunday and vowed to try to make it up to her fans.
"We had to cancel the concert in Indonesia. I'm so very sorry to the fans & just as devastated as you if not more. You are everything to me," she wrote. "I will try to put together something special for you. My love for Indonesia has only grown."
Police initially refused to provide the necessary permits for the concert unless the singer agreed to take the sexy in her performance down a few notches, according to an ABC News report. But at the end of the day, her management team said the cancellation was necessary because of security concerns.
(Related: 'Stop the Lady Gaga!': Filipino Christian Youths Protest Pop Star's 'Questionable Concert')
Some argue that while the majority of Indonesia's Muslim population is moderate and peaceful, the radical fundamentalist Islamists in the country are growing more intolerant and forceful when promoting their views.
The Wall Street Journal reported on a few of the most recent examples:
In the most recent case, several residents threw stones, bags of urine and rotten eggs at members of a Christian congregation in the Jakarta suburb of Bekasi, accusing them of trying to convert locals, said Palti Panjaitan, who is in charge of the church.“They don’t want us there because they believe their children could grow up to become Christians,” Mr. Panjaitan said.
A group of Muslims in Bogor, another Jakarta suburb, continue to block one Christian congregation from worshipping in their church in a dispute over the building’s permit that has dragged on for more than a year.
Meanwhile, the Ahmadiyya and Shia Islamic minority sects have also been targets of attacks by hardliners in Indonesia. In recent years, Ahmadiyya members have been driven from their homes and had their places of worship burned. Many mainstream Muslims believe Ahmadiyya followers to be heretical because they recognize another prophet after Muhammad.
Mobs have ransacked at least four Ahmadiyya mosques this year alone, said Firdaus Mubarok, a spokesman for the group.
It should be interesting to see if any Muslim rights groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) or the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) – or any leftist civil liberties group really – will come out and publicly denounce Indonesia's "hard-line" Islamists as they themselves constantly argue that the U.S. must become a more tolerant nation.
