'Private sponsors footed payment for K-pop stars'

The "large amount of payment" claimed to have been made to Korean artistes who performed at the National Youth Day 2012 gathering in Putrajaya last week is not an issue as private sponsors footed the bill, Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek said.

"The issue of money does not arise as long as there are sponsors," he told Malaysiakini in a text message yesterday when asked about claims in blogs that the government paid RM2.04 million for the K-pop performances last month.

Korean pop groups Dal Shabet (right) and Teen Pop were reportedly paid this astronomical amount for their performances during the 'Gathering of Million Youths' that spanned over five days.

However, Ahmad Shabery declined to confirm the amount paid, saying that the ministry was still auditing the total cost of the mega-event.

"The early information that I got is that the cash, in-kind and programmes sponsored amounted to RM20 million," he said.

The RM2.04 million claim emerged after a blog published a letter it said was from the organisers of the mega-event to the Youth and Sports Ministry, providing the details of the expenses.

According to the Star, event organiser Stadium First Sdn Bhd managing director Roslan Salikon confirmed that the company had sent a request for partial payment to the ministry, in which the total bill was RM15 million.

'Event benefitted economy' 

Ahmad Shabery said he was confident that the event had benefitted the country's economy and various quarters, such as traders, exhibition organisers, logistics suppliers as well as the artistes who performed.

"Last year, the economic impact was more than RM100 million and this year it is expected to be more than that.

"This means that whatever is spent ultimately goes back to the rakyat and the effect is several folds greater," Ahmad Shabery added.

The claim that the K-pop artistes were handsomely paid has also attracted the attention of netizens on a related matter - the letter posted in the ‘Anak Sungai Derhaka' blog says that more than RM1.8 million was paid to local artistes who performed at the events.