On June 5, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck Borneo island’s state of Sabah, causing landslides on Mount Kinabalu and killing at least eighteen people, including several school children.
But this is not your average natural disaster report. The twist? The local community is blaming its occurrence on a group of tourists.
Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain in Malaysia, and is the main attraction at the Kinabalu Park UNESCO World Heritage Site. There is competing folklore about this sacred mountain. One theory says its name comes from the phrase “Aki Nabalu” which translates to “the revered place of the dead”. The locals believe that the spirits of their ancestors live at the top of Mount Kinabalu, and that when a person passes away, the spirits come to carry his/her soul to this final resting place.
The second theory says Kinabalu translates to “Chinese widow”. Legend has it that a vicious dragon guarded an enormous pearl at the top of the mountain. A Chinese prince went in search of this treasure, and succeeded in claiming it for himself after slaying the dragon. He ended up marrying a local woman he fell in love with, but broke her heart by leaving and returning to his hometown. Devastated, she wandered the mountain to mourn. When she died of grief, her body turned to stone, but her spirit continued to haunt its peak.
Regardless of the origin of the myth, the locals give Mount Kinabalu a high level of respect as a dwelling for spirits.
One week before the quake, a group of ten tourists, including Canadian brother and sister Lindsey and Danielle Peterson, posed naked for an Instagram picture at the peak of the mountain. Apparently, taking nude pictures at popular tourist attractions is a growing trend, which seems strange. Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan said the foreigners’ “disrespect to the sacred mountain” caused the earthquake, and that they would hold a special ritual to “appease the mountain spirit.”
Not everyone blames the holidaymakers for causing the natural disaster, but it is still seen as an insulting gesture. “I can’t say whether the tourists caused the quake or not. We’re a modern society but we also have local customs that have to be respected,” says a tour guide named Supni.
The Canadians had been barred from leaving the country. On this subject, Canadian Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Jacqueline Laframboise said that “Canadian consular officials in Malaysia are in contact with local authorities to gather additional information and are providing consular assistance to the Canadian citizens.” On June 12, they were sentenced to three days of jail time and a fine of 5,000 Malaysian ringgit ($1,330). The court agreed that they had shown remorse regarding the incident, and had not been acting deliberately disrespectful.
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