Want to whip organisers of Enrique show: Maithripala Sirisena

Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday said that organisers of a recent concert by pop star Enrique Iglesias in Colombo should be “whipped with toxic stingray tails” because it was “uncivilised.”

The December 20 concert in capital Colombo saw ecstatic local women running on stage to hug and kiss the Hero singer while others threw their underwear at him, Sirisena told a public meeting in the eastern district of Ampara. “This is most uncivilised behaviour that goes against our culture,” the President said. “I don’t advocate that these uncivilised women who removed their brassieres should be beaten with toxic stingray tails, but those who organised such an event should be,” he added. Sirisena said such events will not be allowed to take place in future.

There was no immediate comment from the local organiser, Live Events, a company co-owned by Sri Lankan cricket stars Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.

“I know I will face criticism for saying this, it is not the young girls who misbehaved who need to be punished but the organisers,” Sirisena said. The event management company has also run into problems with the Colombo Municipal Council who accuses them of not having paid the entertainment tax on the event. The council is to file a court action.

Fans had paid prices ranging from 5,000 rupees to 50,000 rupees ($350) to witness a live one-hour performance by Enrique at a rugby stadium in Colom-bo which was part of the pop star’s world tour, “Love and Sex”. Whipping with the tails of stingrays was reserved for hardened criminals in medieval Sri Lanka and is used as a popular idiom for extreme punishment of wrongdoing. In conservative Sri Lankan society, public displays of affection, even among married couples, is frowned upon.