Istana Negara denied that Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Nur Zahirah's presence at the Islamic Song Festival on July 4 was in her personal capacity but based on an official invitation by the organisers.

"Istana Negara wishes to advise the parties involved to avoid a recurrence of what happened and to always exercise care when issuing any statements on such matters as they might be misinterpreted by the people," Istana Negara said in a statement.

On Monday, The Malay Mail newspaper had carried a report headlined 'Being frank: Selangor's royal snub, date with the Queen" and another article the next day titled 'It was not a royal snub', which had drawn the attention of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin and Tuanku Nur Zahirah.

NONE The report 'It was not a royal snub' had stated that the Selangor government had claimed that Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Nur Zahirah (right) had attended the Tourism Selangor-organised International Islamic Song Festival - where key state government figures were missing - in her personal capacity.

The report had also stated that the ineptness of the state government in organising the event had caused embarrassment to the Queen which included; no-show of almost all the top state administrators and lawmakers, including Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, to welcome the Queen; less than a 200-strong crowd in the 5,000-capacity Malawati Indoor Stadium, Shah Alam, and the failure to inform the Sultan of Selangor about the visit of the Queen to the state and the Selangor Musical Extravaganza (SME) 2010, of which the song festival was the signature event.   

Istana Negara said a meeting on preparations to welcome Her Majesty to the event had been held earlier and involved palace officials and the organisers besides agencies and departments under the Selangor government, comprising the Selangor Menteri Besar's Office, the State Secretariat's services management division, and its protocol division and Tourism Selangor, and was chaired by Tourism Malaysia's general manager.

"Istana Negara also wishes to deny reports which stated that her majesty left the function earlier than scheduled when in fact Her Majesty had informed the organisers that Her Majesty would not be attending the post-concert reception," added the statement.

- Bernama