Naked Tourists Jailed for Causing Earthquake

This is one of those stories you have to wonder if sometimes we've awakened on the wrong planet in the universe. It seems a small group of about ten tourists from Canada, the U.K. and the Netherlands decided to hike up to the top of Mount Kinabalu, a UNESCO World Heritage site that's 13,435 feet tall and is the highest peak in Malaysia.

They apparently were so excited upon reaching the peak that everybody decided to throw their clothes down on the ground, urinate on the mountain top and prance around, even though their guide told them to stop. To make sure this historical event was recorded for posterity, they took a bunch of nice Instagram pictures of the unruly scene and, naturally, they went viral on the Internet.

A few days later, a 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck the region, killing 18 residents who reported "boulders raining down” the side of the mountain into their villages.

A couple of Malaysian government officials quickly called a press conference and blamed the earthquake on the tourists, accusing them of angering the spirits of the sacred mountain. According to the Deputy Chief Minister of the state where the mountain is located, "It is a sacred mountain and you cannot take it lightly! ... There is almost certainly a connection. We have to take this as a reminder that local beliefs and customs are not to be disrespected."

During the next few days, anger spread throughout the entire country. Five of the hikers were arrested and detained, each facing a fine and up to three months in prison. The rest apparently were able to escape. A park ranger at the mountain, Daikin Anam, who first reported the hikers and their nudity to the police, says that the group should be severely punished for their actions after they deliberately “insulted the mountain spirit.” Calling Mount Kinabalu a holy mountain, he says the tourists showed "disrespect to our mountain and our people."

Tribal elders of the region agreed that the hikers should be punished in their native court in a more traditional way. One elder said, "To appease the mountain protector, the 10 western tourists who stripped and urinated on Mount Kinabalu should be fined 10 head of buffalo, according to local customs. According to local beliefs, the spirit of the mountain is very angry." 

However, the four hikers who were detained were released from jail after pleading guilty to committing obscene acts in public. They were sentenced to three days in prison, which was the time they had served since their arrests on June 9th, and fined 5,000 Malaysian Ringgit (what a great name for a currency!) which works out to about $1,350. I'll bet they never go back and take another tour to Malaysia again.