Privately staged water festival held indoors would have defeated purpose, says Karyawan

 The Malaysian Artistes' Association says the event is an addition to the nation's diversity, not a detraction from it.

Karyawan said relocating the Rain Rave Water Music Festival to an indoor venue would have reduced its visibility, reach, and impact on the international visitors it was designed to attract.

PETALING JAYA:

 The Malaysian Artistes’ Association (Karyawan) has defended the staging of the Rain Rave Water Music Festival at Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur, saying it was designed to attract visitors, particularly those from overseas.

It also said that without an admission charge, there was insufficient commercial return to attract a private organiser at the scale that such an event required.

It was responding to comments by PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan that it would have been more appropriate for the private sector to have organised the event and held it behind closed doors as the festival had sparked controversy.

Takiyuddin also said the event was not inclusive.

Karyawan president Freddie Fernandez said relocating the event to an indoor venue would have reduced its visibility, reach, and impact on the international visitors it was designed to attract.

He said Bukit Bintang is an internationally recognised tourist corridor.

“Outdoor festivals of this nature are a proven tourism draw across the region. Thailand’s Songkran celebrations and Taiwan’s water festivals have demonstrated increased tourist arrivals specifically tied to such events.

“An indoor event would have lacked impact and defeated this purpose,” he said in a statement.

Fernandez also said Malaysia’s identity as a nation has never been singular.

“It is precisely Malaysia’s multicultural, multiracial and multilingual character that forms the foundation of the ‘Malaysia Truly Asia’ positioning, a branding that has served this country’s tourism industry for decades,” he said.

“The Rain Rave Water Music Festival drew strong attendance from international visitors and from younger demographics. To characterise the event as inconsistent with Malaysian identity is to advance a narrow and contested definition of what that identity means.”

He said it is worth noting that Saudi Arabia has in recent years hosted large-scale outdoor entertainment events as part of its national tourism strategy under Vision 2030, without abandoning its values or identity.

“If the benchmark for responsible governance is to be drawn from Islamic-majority nations, Malaysia’s approach to tourism-driven public events is neither unprecedented nor inconsistent with that standard,” he said.

Fernandez said the tourism, arts and culture ministry, which organised the Rain Rave festival as part of Visit Malaysia 2026, has over many years supported festivals celebrating Malay heritage, Chinese culture, Indian traditions, and the indigenous cultures of Sabah and Sarawak.

“The Rain Rave Water Music Festival is an addition to that diversity, not a detraction from it.

“Karyawan stands firmly in support of a creative economy that is open, ambitious, and reflective of Malaysia’s diversity. We commend the ministry for its commitment to positioning Malaysia competitively within the regional and global tourism landscape,” he said.

The three-day festival ended last night. - FMT