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MALAYSIA-ISLAM-RELIGION-TOURISM
Malaysia mosque bans tourists after ‘sexy dance’ goes viral
KUALA LUMPUR, June 25, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A Malaysian mosque has banned
tourists after a video of two female visitors in skimpy outfits dancing in
front of the Muslim holy site went viral online.
The pair, of East Asian appearance and believed to be foreigners, were
filmed doing the dance in skimpy shorts and tops exposing their midriffs on a
wall outside the main mosque in the city of Kota Kinabalu, a popular site for
visitors and tour groups.
Residents and local Muslim groups were incensed by the risque moves outside
the holy site on Borneo island, which is renowned for its huge blue and gold
dome and ornate minarets. An outraged onlooker can be heard in the video
saying: “Why don’t they just fall off the wall?”
Mosque chairman Jamal Sakaran at the weekend slammed “the unacceptable
behaviour by foreign tourists” and announced a temporary halt to any tourists
visiting the mosque in Sabah state, adding the move was to preserve the
sanctity of Islam.
The nationality of the women involved was not clear.
State Tourism Minister Christina Liew told The Star newspaper legal action
would not be taken against the pair as they were likely unaware of the
severity of their actions. But authorities wanted to track them down to
explain “that something they deemed as ‘fun’ was actually disrespectful and
not right in Sabah”.
Large numbers of tourists — both local and foreign — visit the mosque,
often during a brief stop in Kota Kinabalu before heading into the jungles of
Sabah to see the jungle-clad state’s abundance of wildlife.
Tourists can usually visit mosques in Muslim-majority Malaysia, where most
practise a moderate form of Islam, but are advised to wear modest clothing.
It is not the first time that foreign visitors have landed in hot water for
disrespecting local culture in Sabah.
In 2015 four Western tourists pleaded guilty to obscenity charges for
taking nude photos on popular peak Mount Kinabalu, an act some in the country
blamed for causing a deadly earthquake.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1447 hrs