The last time there were nudists in Malaysia, it caused an uproar – and it wasn’t even that long ago. But we guess not everyone is aware of that, especially tourists.
A Canadian national claiming to be one of the nudists that posed for photographs on Mount Kinabalu, calls the experience the “time of my life” and is brushing off Kadazan Dusun legend as “superstition”.
“It is not based in logic, but superstition. I utterly do not care for superstition. 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,” said travel blog Monkeetime founder Emil Kaminski on his Facebook page.
Note: Sabah natives believe that their crude photo shoot may have angered “aki” (mountain protectors), and later brought on the 5.9-magnitude earthquake that hit Ranau 2 days ago. The quake has left 18 people dead and over 100 climbers stranded atop Southeast Asia’s highest peak.
When advised to show respect to the local culture by a commenter on Facebook, Kaminski replied by saying, “f**k your culture.”
On Monkeetime’s Twitter page, he called Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun an “idiot” and “not a minister of tourism”.
https://twitter.com/monkeetimevideo/status/607374295912701952
https://twitter.com/monkeetimevideo/status/607374579107921921
The tweet was then copied and retweeted on the Masidi’s Twitter page.
And that’s not all. Kaminski also wrote on Facebook, “Oh, Malaysia, why are your politicians so stupid. Some deranged prick has linked earthquakes and mountaintop nudity. 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…)”
The above status came complete with a picture of him exposing his naked behind at various other mountain tops.
He also poked fun at making reparations for exposing himself on top of Mount Kinabalu.
Kaminski wrote that he believes in having some “decency laws” but didn’t see the harm in nude photos being taken on a “remote mountaintop”. He added that he takes his “butt photos” in remote places where hardly anyone sees him.
On Twitter, Kaminski describes his blog Monkeetime as a platform that provides travel videos. “It’s no-bullsh*t, often offensive, earthy essence of backpacking experience,” he said.
Monkeetime’s YouTube channel was founded on March 2007, and has over 10,000 subscribers and over 5 million views. One of the channels most recent videos, uploaded yesterday (8th June), is titled “Monkeetime’s Trolling Malaysia”, shows Kaminski addressing the issue. Needless to say, he calls Masidi Manjun all sorts of things.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZpG8WGPl-I
In other news, Canadian siblings Lindsey and Danielle Petersen have been barred from leaving Malaysia after posing for a series of nude photographs on the mountain. They were among a group of 10 Western tourists who stripped down to pose naked and urinated at the 8km mark of the 2-day trek up Mount Kinabalu on the morning of 30th May.
What do you guys think? Should the tourists have known better and respected local traditions as well as culture? Was it their fault for not studying Mount Kinabalu superstitions better before stripping down on the mountain? Most importantly, do you think they should be forgiven for the commotion they’ve caused?
Feel free to discuss that in the comments box below.
Source: The Star Online.
