KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 — Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh again reminded her critics on the importance of respecting the contract with organisers of a concert taking place at Bukit Jalil National Stadium (SNBJ) on January 15, saying being minister does not allow her to act unilaterally.

Yeoh had tweeted the statement to respond to Machang MP from Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, Wan Ahmad Faysal Wan Ahmad, who accused the minister of lacking the political will to cancel the concert despite being empowered to do so.

"The power of a minister cannot be abused,” said the Segambut representative from DAP.

Yeoh’s ministry has come under heavy criticism over the decision to free up to 21,000 seats at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium for the first leg of the Asean Football Federation Cup (AFF) 2022 semi-final clash between Malaysia and Thailand tomorrow.

Malaysian football supporters are typically less enthusiastic about turning up physically to watch matches played domestically but encounters between the two football-crazy nations in the past are often fierce, and would usually draw fans out to the stadium in droves

Wan Fayhsal claimed vacating nearly one-fifth of the stadium could reduce the national team’s advantage. The SNBJ is a 100,000 capacity-stadium.

Football fanatics believe fans are the "12th player” because their support can intimidate opponents and disrupt their rivals’ momentum.

"If the government can cancel tender in order to save money, why not cancel this concert which obviously does not have the support of Malaysians by obviously sabotaging the fight of the Harimau Malaya squad that carries Malaysian name and flag,” the former youth and sport minister claimed on Facebook.

"Malaysia first! Not the fans of a Taiwanese artist!” he added.

In an interview with Bernama on Thursday, the minister said that the southern stand of the stadium had to be cordoned off to let organisers prepare an international-scale concert stage where popular Taiwanese singer Jay Chou is to perform as part of a world tour.

Yeoh said the concert organiser has booked the SNBJ for the tour since March 2019.

In her tweet today, the minister said up to 45,000 tickets for the concert had been sold. There were suggestions that the concert be shifted to the Axiata Arena here but the Segambut MP said the badminton stadium could only fit 13,000 people.