PUTRAJAYA: Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh disclosed that cancelling the Jay Chou concert scheduled for Jan 15 at National Stadium, Bukit Jalil would cause negative implications to the government.
Hannah said the concert and ongoing AFF Cup football competition are both events of international standards and must be handled carefully.
She is still trying to secure more seats for football fans for the upcoming Malaysia vs Thailand match at Bukit Jalil tomorrow but admitted that her options are limited.
"I have gone to the site yesterday. We are negotiating but we have limitations on both sides, especially when you have such a short time frame," said Yeoh in an exclusive interview with Timesport this morning.
"I don't have much room to work around this but we are still trying, even within the last 24 hours. We are looking at how we can better support Harimau Malaya. It is work in progress at this very moment.
"I came in (into office) with a (events) calendar that had already been managed half way.
"Both (concert and AFF Cup) are of international standards and both will have implications on the government. You cannot simply cancel an international gig and disrupt the whole thing.
"For me, it should be about finding a win-win situation. Malaysia Stadium Corporation and FA of Malaysia have already discussed this and worked on co-existing through reduced seating.
"This (co-existing) can still go on and at the same time Harimau Malaya would still have a substantial number of fans in the stadium to support them."
Hannah yesterday tweeted that the organisers of the concert had already booked the stadium in 2019.
Malaysia will play Thailand in first leg of the AFF Cup semi-finals at National Stadium tomorrow.
The setup for the concert has, however, rendered 21,000 seats unusable. This has angered fans who are eager to watch the game.
All 59,000 tickets for the game have already been snapped up.