The management of AKB48’s Malaysian sister group KLP48 drew flak recently for their management of the controversy surrounding the local members of the group.
The whole issue sparked on 19 December, after the company announced the names of the six members that were previously accused of bullying and racism against its other members. The statement came after several screenshots of the members’ conversation in a WhatsApp group “not the colonizers” were leaked to the Internet.
The statement read, “Following an internal review, KLP48 Management has confirmed six members of the KLP48 First Generation violated the Group’s rules governing member conduct. This matter is taken very seriously by Management and has caused concern and disappointment.”
They then named the six members, saying that they have issued a strict official warning to the said members.
In response to the statement, some fans expressed their ire over the way the management handled the issue publicly, with one saying that the statement will only make people speculate instead.
“While I respect the need for discipline, making a public announcement like this without specific context only invites unnecessary speculation. It would have been better to handle this internally to protect the members’ reputations.”
Another posted, “If it’s an internal issue, better keep it internal. Unless the members are publicly doing it. Why do this when the concert is around the corner?”
Meanwhile, others stated that the original issue was already ambiguous enough for the fans that the management should have handled it better so not to cause outside bullying.
(Photo Source: KLP48 IG)