Indonesian police refused to allow pop phenomenon Lady Gaga to perform in

Indonesian police refused to allow pop phenomenon Lady Gaga to perform in Jakarta after Islamic hardliners vowed to mobilise thousands of supporters against the “devil’s messenger”.

The show planned for June 3 in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country “will have to be cancelled”, national police spokesman Saud Usman Nasution said.

“We will not issue a permit for the Lady Gaga concert in Jakarta,” he said.

Indonesia’s hardline Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) had mounted protests in the capital, vowing to intercept the “Poker Face” singer at the airport and ensure she does not enter the country.

“We’re very glad the police stopped this moral destroyer from coming to this country, where we believe in God. Of course we stand against her — she only wears panties and a bra,” FPI Jakarta chairman Habib Salim Alatas told AFP.

Alatas said he had seen Lady Gaga refer to herself as the devil’s messenger on Twitter and Facebook, although no reference to the devil was sighted on either of her accounts Tuesday.

Another national police spokesman said the force had “no problem with Lady Gaga” but could not issue a permit without a letter of recommendation from the Jakarta police, who “have decided not to do that”.

Lady Gaga has faced opposition elsewhere on the Asia leg of her tour.

The Korean Association of Church Communication vowed in March to take “concerted action to stop young people from being infected with homosexuality and pornography” during the star’s concert in Seoul.

Source AFP