Da Da for Gaga

Da da = Goodbye

This has been a pretty big deal in Indonesia for the last several weeks... 

Indonesia was the next scheduled stop for Lady Gaga's world tour...  After she got loads of criticism and protests from Christian groups in South Korea and the Philippines, Muslim groups in Indonesia started going ballistic.  They protested, threatened to 'disrupt' the show, and then put enormous pressure on the police to not grant a permit for the concert.  The Islamic Defenders Front went a step further and revealed that they had purchased over 150 tickets to the show with threats of violence if Lady Gaga was allowed to perform.  These hardliner Muslim groups have incredible influence in Indonesia and through various methods can persuade courts, regional leaders, national police, and even the federal government to follow its demands.

Last week the head of police came out and said that they were considering not approving the permit for Lady Gaga to perform in the capital of Jakarta.  He sounded like the spokesperson for the Islamic Defenders Front... 

The show has been sold out for some time, with over 50,000 tickets being sold.  Indonesia is big into social media, so Twitter and Facebook lit up with people's opinions on both sides of the Lady Gaga debate...

The story should have ended when Lady Gaga decided to cancel the show in order to ensure the safety of her fans.   But there was one last final twist (which is the only reason this story made it onto the blog).  The governor of Bali, along with several members of our provincial legislature, publicly extended an invitation for Lady Gaga to hold her performance in Bali.  Even though we don't have a venue here that could accommodate that large of a crowd, it was the governor's chance to show that Bali welcomed everyone, including Lady Gaga.  One of the memorable quotes, "We are open and pleased to host Lady Gaga, it will make Bali even more famous."