TOURISTS OUT AFTER SEXY DANCE
Amosque in Malaysia has banned tourists after a video of two women, dancing provocatively in skimpy outfits in front of the Muslim holy site, went viral. The pair, believed to be foreign tourists, were filmed dancing in hip-hugging shorts and with bared midriffs on a wall outside the Kota Kinabalu City Mosque on Borneo island. Tourists can usually visit mosques in Muslim-majority Malaysia, where most people practise a moderate form of Islam, but they are advised to wear modest clothing and be respectful.
The Kota Kinabalu City Mosque, renowned for its huge blue and gold dome and ornate minarets, is one of the more popular tourist attractions.
AFP quotes the mosque’s chairman Jamal Sakaran as slamming “the unacceptable behaviour” and announcing a temporary halt to any tourists visiting the mosque as a move towards preserving the sanctity of Islam.
State Tourism Minister Christina Liew said 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”. Sabah is the state occupying the northern part of Borneo.
Large numbers of tourists visit the mosque, often during a brief stop in Kota Kinabalu before heading into the jungles of Sabah to see the wild state’s abundance of wildlife.