The Notorious 'Nude Tourists' Fiasco At Mt. Kinabalu: Guide Was Told To "Go To Hell"
The group of foreigners, who created notoriety for posing naked at Mount Kinabalu, were identified as European tourists.
By Sadho Ram — 15 Jun 2015, 11:57 AM
Fined and freed Kinabalu "strip" tourist truly sorry for her actions
Four foreign hikers who posed naked on Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia were freed after they were fined and sentenced to time served. They had pleaded guilty to "committing an obscene act."
The local court on Friday evening fined the four RM5,000, about $1,332, each and sentenced them to three days in prison. Taking into account the time served already, the court ordered them freed.
Eleanor Hawkins, 23, was one of four Western tourists who flew to Kuala Lumpur Saturday to be deport after admitting obscenity charges.
“I know my behaviour was foolish and I know how much offence we all caused to the local people of Sabah. For that, I am truly sorry,” she said in a statement outside her house in Draycott, central England.
Dutch national Dylan Snel (centre R), 23, and Canadian national Danielle Petersen (centre L), 22, arrive at local court in Kota Kinabalu
Image via news.au12 June: Review of travel advice by UK for Britons visiting Malaysia
The UK government is reviewing its advice for tourists travelling to Malaysia in light of the arrest of a British woman for posing naked on a mountain, as her family issued a fresh statement on her behalf to apologise for the stunt.
Her family issued a statement on Thursday saying she knew what she did was “stupid and disrespectful” and that she was very sorry for the offence caused. The UK Foreign Office confirmed it was reviewing its advice to avoid a repeat of the incident.
theguardian.com
"The travel advice team are going to discuss with the Malaysian desk how best they think the travel advice should be updated in light of this incident.
"They are going to review it [...] they may include (reference to the incident) as a warning so that it doesn’t happen again," said the British Foreign Office.
2 tourists confess to going naked on Mt. Kinabalu
Two of the four tourists remanded by police for desecrating Mount Kinabalu, a sacred site, have confessed to going naked while on the mountain.
Sabah Police Commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman said the confessions were recorded but he did not identify which two had admitted to the indecent acts.
“They also told us that one of the others had been naked with them,” he said.
The four were remanded yesterday while police hunt for six other tourists who were alleged to have committed the offence together.
The "stripping" fiasco at Mt. Kinabalu: 4 tourists remanded by authorities
It is only a matter of time before notorious Canadian nudist Emil Kaminski arrives in the clutches of police after four of his accomplices, including two women, were today served with four-day remand orders in the Kota Kinabalu Magistrates Court following their arrests yesterday.
The quartet - two Candian brothers aged 22 and 23, a Dutch national and a British woman - were detained separately, three surrendered at the Kota Kinabalu District police headquarters and the other was arrested before boarding a flight at the Tawau Airport.
They are expected to be charged for indecency under Section 294 Penal Code in civil court, which could lead to jail time up to three months or a hefty fine or both. However there hasn't been any confirmation if they would be tried in the native court as requested by many.
The native courts are special to the indigenous peoples of East Malaysia and governed by the Native Courts Enactment 1992.
themalaymailonline.com
Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman, Sabah's police commissioner, was quoted saying that the authorities may charge them with causing a public nuisance also.
He said they were still looking for the other six tourists from the same group "and we will catch them".
10 June: Kaminski's video trolling Malaysia goes viral!
After his Twitter showdown with Datuk Masidi Manjun yesterday, tourist Emil Kaminski has uploaded a YouTube video again mocking the Sabah minister and Malaysians who blamed his act of stripping on Mount Kinabalu for the earthquake last Friday.
In the 12-minute-and-35-second video titled “Trolling Malaysia” on his account “monkeetime”, Kaminski questioned how Masidi could be the state’s tourism, culture and environment minister when he does not understand geology.
themalaymailonline.com
Sabah Tourism Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun urged Malaysians not to give any attention to the tourist mocking him and the country over last week’s earthquake, saying the man was profiting from the scrutiny.
themalaymailonline.com
8 June: Nude tourist Emil Kaminski calls Sabah minister an idiot and tells locals to "f**k your culture"
Emil Kaminski's Facebook post caused an uproar among Malaysians and travellers alike for being disrespectful and ignorant to Sabahan culture and beliefs.
Image via Emil Kaminski Facebook"Well, apparently I am responsible for the 2015 Nepal quake, and whatever incoming quakes in Canada (as well as Thailand, India, China, Taiwan, Hongkong, and a variety of other countries...),” Emil Kaminski said, while posting a picture of him exposing his naked behind at various other mountain tops.
thestar.com.my"It is not based in logic, but superstition. I utterly do not care for superstition," said travel blog Monkeetime founder Emil Kaminski on his Facebook page. "If local religion prohibits certain actions, then local believers of that religion should not engage in it, but they cannot expect everyone to obey their archaic and idiotic rules," he said. When advised to show respect to the local culture by a commenter on Facebook, Kaminski replied by saying "f**k your culture".
thestar.com.myMalaysians have flooded his Facebook post condemning him for being disrespectful, ignorant and a shame to Western travellers. Many warned Kaminski that he would not be welcomed back to Malaysia and that people would "find" him. There were also posts of a screenshot of his AirAsia flight itinerary of his outgoing trip from Tawau to Taipei through Kuala Lumpur.
Kaminski, on Monkeetime's Twitter page @monkeetimevideo, also called Sabah's Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun an "idiot" and "not a minister of tourism". The tweet was then copied and retweeted on Datuk Masidi's Twitter page. An earlier tweet also referred to the minister as a "dildo" for blaming the earthquake on the stripping incident.
Kaminski's tweet on 7 June 2015 said Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun was an "idiot"
Image via Emil Kaminski TwitterKaminski also poked fun at making reparations for exposing himself on top of Mount Kinabalu. He wrote that he believed in having some "decency laws", but did not see the harm in nude photos being taken on "a remote mountaintop". He added that he took his "butt photos" in remote places where hardly anyone sees him.
Datuk Masidi Manjun, Sabah's Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister however, responded well to Kaminski's "complimentary" tweet
Just got this very complimentary posting from the nudist. I say, "it takes a monkey to call another person a monkey" pic.twitter.com/PjTjHds1Qb
— Masidi Manjun (@MasidiM) June 8, 2015
"Such actions truly defile the sanctity of sacred sites."* - Masidi
The minister said that the Caucasians who posed naked on Mt. Kinabalu will be kicked out of Sabah if they were found to still be in the State.
"We are respectful of other people's taste but if they don't respect the culture and tradition of the countries they visit, they are not the kind of tourists we want."
He added that there were some groups of people who were travelling around the world, visiting sacred sites and then having photos of them naked taken at these places.
3 June: Earlier on Saturday, 30 May, a photograph of five foreigners posing nude close to the peak of Mt. Kinabalu surfaced on social media and quickly spread, triggering outrage among Sabahans who consider the area sacred. The photo was taken from a distance.
The photo of the five people posing naked with the peak of the mountain clearly in the background.
Image via The Star OnlineFollowing which, Sabah Parks was ordered to investigate the matter
According to State Tourism Culture and Environment Minister Masidi Manjun, Sabah Parks has been ordered to investigate the issue to find out if the incident (of foreigners urinating near the Mt. Kinabalu) really did take place or if the photo was doctored.
Sabah Parks, Masidi said, was checking with the mountain guides if any of them had knowledge of foreigners urinating near the peak of the mountain. "It could have been a superimposed photograph. We are doing a full investigation," he told The Star.
The Kadazandusuns, a unification term given to Kadazan and Dusun, the two indigenous tribes in Sabah, believe that the 4,095 meter Mt. Kinabalu area is the sacred resting ground of the spirits of their ancestors and should be treated with great respect
According to The Star, they also believe that the word Kinabalu comes from the word Aki Nabalu which means abode of the dead.
Meanwhile, condemning the alleged act, netizens said there was a need to tell all climbers to show respect for the mountain and for a book on the dos and don’ts. They also said that the mountain guides should also be more pro-active and act against those disrespecting the mountain.
The five foreigners who stripped near the mountain have been identified. As per a report on the NST, they were among 10 foreigners in a group of 27 climbers sought by the authorities in their probe into claims of indecent exposure on the summit trail.
Another photo shows a group of Caucasian-looking adults in various states of undress near the mountain in Sabah.
Image via The Malay MailSabah Parks director Dr Jamili Nais said among the five identified were two Canadians, two from Netherlands and a German.
"They were among 27 climbers in a group," he said adding that a police report has been lodged and that the names of all the climbers have been submitted.
According to a Malay Mail report, the group of 10 tourists, who stripped naked for photographs at the peak of Mount Kinabalu, allegedly called their mountain guide "stupid" and told him to "go to hell" when he attempted to stop them from removing their clothes
“The guide involved said he had approached the group and told them not to do it but was rebuffed with the words ‘stupid’ and ‘go to hell’,” said Jamili when contacted by Malay Mail Online.
“Unfortunately, the guide did not report the incident right away for action to be taken on the same day. We have since lodged a police report for further investigations to be taken against the climbers,” he said, adding that the guide involved was also reprimanded for not reporting the incident earlier.
themalaymailonline.com
Jamili said the department was working with the police to take action against the tourists for disrespecting the mountain. He added it was the first time such an incident had occurred at the tourist spot.
Jamili said the guide had been issued a showcause letter for failing to inform Sabah Parks of the incident. “We have instructed all the guides to brief climbers that they cannot strip or do any indecent acts on the mountain,” he said, adding that signboards would be erected to remind climbers.