THE father of a British woman arrested for allegedly posing naked atop a sacred mountain in Malaysia has pleaded with authorities to set his daughter free.
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Timothy Hawkins said he had spoken to his daughter Eleanor, who is being held with four other Westerners while they are investigated for indecent behavior.
This would carry a maximum penalty of three months in prison plus a fine, Mr. Cham explained.
Priest Indorama Aman Sirom Simbuna said: ‘The tourists who angered the guardian of the mountain should pay for their mistakes by giving sogit.
The British woman was arrested at the Tawau airport yesterday as she was about to depart for Kuala Lumpur, and the police brought her here, he told a news conference at the Sabah Police headquarters.
Mr. Hawkins said: “We spoke to her. She’s OK, she’s very scared, and she’s very upset”.
“It’s good to know where she is”.
‘We’ve talked to the consulate and arranged a lawyer.’
Mr. Hawkins, who runs a mechanical engineering business, said his daughter is “obviously in the photos” but he didn’t want the situation to be “blown out of all proportion”.
Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman, Sabah’s police commissioner, was quoted by AFP news agency as saying that the authorities may charge them with causing a public nuisance.
Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan has blamed the foreigners’ “disrespect to the sacred mountain” for a deadly natural disaster at the mountain on Friday.
Every December the tribe conducts a ritual called the Monolob to appease the spirits and allow climbers to continue visiting the mountain.
Mr. Hawkins added: ‘What I will say is the guy stirring up a media storm – the halfwit Canadian guy – is not doing anyone any favors.’
She was on a gap year travelling around Southeast Asia when the photographs were taken on 30 May, according to reports.
The four tourists appeared in a Malaysian court on Wednesday and were remanded in custody for four days pending further investigation, according to Sabah’s state tourism minister Masidi Manjun. Later Tuesday, Dutch tourist Dylan Snel, 23, and Canadians Lindsey Petersen and his sister Danielle turned themselves in to Malaysian police, the Malay Mail reported. In addition to these deaths, the raging local Kadazandusun elders claim such antics insulted their religious beliefs and they are requesting that those responsible be charged in a Native Court.
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