Pop starlet Maggie Lindemann was reportedly arrested midway through her Malaysian show on June 21 at The Bee in Publika, Kuala Lumpur.
The 20-year-old singer-songwriter, who is best known for her debut single Pretty Girl, posted a statement on Twitter on Thursday (July 4) about the arrest.
She starts off by apologising to the Malaysian fans who went to her show, adding that that “for reasons I can’t go into right now”, she was detained and arrested midway through her set and then “spent the next 5 days confined in a living hell”.
(Update: It has since been revealed that she was only detained for less than 24 hours, after which she was released, but asked to stay in the country until the proper documentation was complete.)
After Malaysia, the Texas-born singer was due to make stops in Vietnam and Singapore, but has since had to cancel those dates.
The Straits Times reported on June 24 that Lindemann cancelled what would have been her debut show in Singapore, citing “unforeseen circumstances”. No further reasons were given for the cancellation at the time.
UPDATE (11.33am, July 5):
In [color=rgb(0, 51, 153) !important]a statement to The Star, Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department director Hamidi Adam confirmed that Lindemann was detained following a raid at a restaurant in a shopping mall here on June 21.
“She was arrested for not having a professional visit pass at the time of the performance. She was then detained at Jalan Duta (Immigration KL office) for documentation purposes and was released with bail the next day,” he said when contacted on Friday (July 5).
He added that the show’s organiser pleaded guilty and was fined RM30,000.
UPDATE (4.39pm, July 5)
The host venue for the show, The Bee, has issued an official statement to clarify that it was the organising permit agent, and not the organisers, who was charged, found guilty for his negligence and had to pay the RM30,000 fine.
The statement also clarifies that the incident occurred as a mismanagement in applications via the organising permit agent, who misinformed the organisers that the show was approved by the relevant authorities, and therefore permitted to go on.