I will concede that probably they should not have even bothered playing in Malaysia at all. However, protesting garbage laws is the right thing to do. Slavery was legal in the U.S. at one point. It was illegal(even in the North, where slavery itself was banned) to help escaped slaves evade the authorities. What I’m saying here is, some laws don’t deserve to be “respected”. This is an evil law, one that should be mocked, scorned, and flaunted.
Artists United Against Apartheid didn’t play gigs in South African to protest the situation there.
If they had, it would have been a degree of complicity with the regime.
TBH, every major artist should loudly express that they are deliberately skipping playing in Malaysia for specific reasons.