For over a year, everyone thought that Future Music Festival Asia (FMFA) 2014 was unceremoniously shut down due to rampant cases of drug overdose. Six people died during the festival, while a couple more were hospitalized, and the Malaysian authorities threatened to take stern action against the festival's organisers — Livescape Asia — for allegedly failing to to prevent drug abuse during their event.
Now however, reports have revealed that narcotics actually had a pretty negligible part in the tragedy — the six deaths were due to heatstroke. This contradicts with initial police statements that hammered in the fact that all deaths were due to drug abuse.
The Star reports that a pathologist involved in the case was puzzled as to why the authorities did not make the results of the post-mortem known to public. University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) forensic pathology department head Prof Dr. K. Nadesan had actually sent several detailed reports correcting police statements, but they were never disclosed to both the public and Livescape Asia themselves.
In fact, two of the 16 festival attendees who were brought to hospital in critical condition did not even have any trace of illegal substance. Though two of the six who died did test positive for ecstasy or MDMA, it was way lower than the average recreational level. The autopsy clearly showed that they all died due to heatstroke.
Since the revelation, many festival goers have no doubt expressed their disgust over the actions of the Malaysian authorities, who obviously knew about the medical results but made no rectifications over their statements. None were more surprised than FMFA organisers Livescape Group themselves, who also got to know about the latest turn of events through media reports.
They've since gone on to Facebook to issue a statement, maintaining that they too were kept in the dark even though numerous requests for the official investigation report were made, of which till today they have yet to acquire.
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PRESS STATEMENT BY THE LIVESCAPE GROUPFollowing the latest turn of events as reported in The Star today with regards...
Posted by Livescape Asia on Monday, 1 June 2015
What's maddening is the fact that the authorities silence over the correct medical reports only served to severely tarnish their reputation, and Livescape Group are clearly disappointed. "Essentially, what we are asking for is greater cooperation, involvement and transparency. With how things are going at the moment, there are no winners. Will the fans be able to see another music festival take place in Malaysia? Could huge financial losses to other event organisers due to last minute event cancellations or objections be avoided? And more importantly, could lives have been saved if transparent and accurate information was released in the first place?".
Obviously, the lack of transparency also directly affected their business earlier this year, when they moved FMFA to Singapore, promising some of the biggest dance music names and more at Changi Exhibition Centre on Mar 13 and 14. Unfortunately, due to the invalid reputation that they acquired during FMFA 2014, the Ministry of Home Affairs refused to allow the festival to go on over heightened fears of drug usage and abuse. It was sincerely possible that the festival might have gone on as scheduled if the Malaysian authorities had actually revealed that the widely publicised deaths were due to heatstroke, and not drug overdose.
Now that Livescape Group has been kinda vindicated by the revelations, it is unknown if they would move to file a lawsuit over their unwarranted defamation. "Our hearts also go out to the families and friends of those affected by this tragedy as they are once again, forced to seek closure even after over a year on," they wrote. "With this in mind, The Livescape Group vows to do everything in its power to ensure that the truth of what transpired is discovered and told in a transparent manner".
Photo: David Cheong via FMFA Facebook page
For over a year, everyone thought that Future Music Festival Asia (FMFA) 2014 was unceremoniously shut down due to rampant cases of drug overdose. Six people died during the festival, while a couple more were hospitalized, and the Malaysian authorities threatened to take stern action against the festival's organisers — Livescape Asia — for allegedly failing to to prevent drug abuse during their event.
Now however, reports have revealed that narcotics actually had a pretty negligible part in the tragedy — the six deaths were due to heatstroke. This contradicts with initial police statements that hammered in the fact that all deaths were due to drug abuse.
The Star reports that a pathologist involved in the case was puzzled as to why the authorities did not make the results of the post-mortem known to public. University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) forensic pathology department head Prof Dr. K. Nadesan had actually sent several detailed reports correcting police statements, but they were never disclosed to both the public and Livescape Asia themselves.
In fact, two of the 16 festival attendees who were brought to hospital in critical condition did not even have any trace of illegal substance. Though two of the six who died did test positive for ecstasy or MDMA, it was way lower than the average recreational level. The autopsy clearly showed that they all died due to heatstroke.
Since the revelation, many festival goers have no doubt expressed their disgust over the actions of the Malaysian authorities, who obviously knew about the medical results but made no rectifications over their statements. None were more surprised than FMFA organisers Livescape Group themselves, who also got to know about the latest turn of events through media reports.
They've since gone on to Facebook to issue a statement, maintaining that they too were kept in the dark even though numerous requests for the official investigation report were made, of which till today they have yet to acquire.
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PRESS STATEMENT BY THE LIVESCAPE GROUPFollowing the latest turn of events as reported in The Star today with regards...
Posted by Livescape Asia on Monday, 1 June 2015
What's maddening is the fact that the authorities silence over the correct medical reports only served to severely tarnish their reputation, and Livescape Group are clearly disappointed. "Essentially, what we are asking for is greater cooperation, involvement and transparency. With how things are going at the moment, there are no winners. Will the fans be able to see another music festival take place in Malaysia? Could huge financial losses to other event organisers due to last minute event cancellations or objections be avoided? And more importantly, could lives have been saved if transparent and accurate information was released in the first place?".
Obviously, the lack of transparency also directly affected their business earlier this year, when they moved FMFA to Singapore, promising some of the biggest dance music names and more at Changi Exhibition Centre on Mar 13 and 14. Unfortunately, due to the invalid reputation that they acquired during FMFA 2014, the Ministry of Home Affairs refused to allow the festival to go on over heightened fears of drug usage and abuse. It was sincerely possible that the festival might have gone on as scheduled if the Malaysian authorities had actually revealed that the widely publicised deaths were due to heatstroke, and not drug overdose.
Now that Livescape Group has been kinda vindicated by the revelations, it is unknown if they would move to file a lawsuit over their unwarranted defamation. "Our hearts also go out to the families and friends of those affected by this tragedy as they are once again, forced to seek closure even after over a year on," they wrote. "With this in mind, The Livescape Group vows to do everything in its power to ensure that the truth of what transpired is discovered and told in a transparent manner".
Photo: David Cheong via FMFA Facebook page