Eleanor Hawkins ‘sorry’ for naked mountain prank in Malaysia

A British graduate blamed for triggering an earthquake by posing naked and allegedly urinating on a sacred mountain knows what she did was “stupid and disrespectful and is very sorry for the offence that she has caused”, her father said.

Eleanor Hawkins, 23, is among a group of Western backpackers who have been arrested after photos emerged of them allegedly stripping naked on Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia.

A magnitude-5.9 earthquake struck the 13,400 ft-high mountain last Friday, killing 18 people and leaving hundreds more stranded.

Her father Tim said in a statement: “We managed to speak to Ellie yesterday and she is obviously quite scared and upset.

“She knows what she did was stupid and disrespectful and is very sorry for the offence that she has caused the Malaysian people.”

Ms Hawkins, an aeronautical engineering graduate from Derby, was arrested on Tuesday at Tawau airport as she was flying from the island of Borneo to the capital, Kuala Lumpur.

She now faces an anxious wait to hear if she will be prosecuted over allegations of indecent behaviour, which carries a three-month prison sentence or fine.

Mr Hawkins said: “We are not really sure what she has actually been charged with, apart from a blanket penal code section number. We don’t have any updates yet.”

Asked how his daughter is, he said: “I think she is preparing herself for the worst.”

His daughter is believed to be part of a group of 10 people who stripped naked before taking photos at the peak of Mount Kinabalu on May 30. Reports in Malaysia have suggested the group urinated on the mountain also.

Sabah state deputy chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan in Malaysia blamed the earthquake six days later on the tourists showing “disrespect to the sacred mountain”. He has said a special ritual will be conducted to “appease the mountain spirit”.

Mr Hawkins criticised the actions of an arrested Canadian — named in reports as 33-year-old Emil Kaminski — who is said to have circulated the photos and posted offensive comments on social media.

He accused the “halfwit Canadian guy” of “stirring up a media storm”.

Mr Kaminski appears to have posted a string of inflammatory comments on his Facebook page dismissing criticisms of the group’s behaviour.

He has made a 12-minute YouTube video of himself, entitled Trolling Malaysia, in which he hits out at criticisms of himself and the photos by saying: “Jesus Christ, people, it is just a f****** mountain.” He also lashed out at Sabah’s tourism minister, Masidi Manjun, whom he branded “an idiot” for reportedly linking the earthquake to the naked photos.

Staying on the right side of local customs

Following the arrest of Eleanor Hawkins for stripping naked on top of a Malaysian mountain, here are other ways people could upset local customs on their travels.

• Kissing somebody in the wrong place could land you in the dock in the United Arab Emirates, which has strict legislation about public decency. Two British tourists were jailed for a month in 2010 after locking lips in a local restaurant.
• Seemingly benevolent acts like giving money to homeless children is outlawed in countries such as the Philippines. The practice is banned over fears that it could lead to child exploitation, with so-called beggar masters dispatching children to collect money on their behalf. Failure to adhere to these laws could result in a fine.
• The French and Italians impose a hard line over the purchase of fake designer goods, as well as the sale of them. In France, the maximum penalty for buying counterfeit designer items is €300,000 or three years in jail.
• Giving the OK gesture, by pinching your index finger and thumb together, is a friendly signal in the UK, but further afield it can be deeply offensive. In Brazil, it is the cultural equivalent of the middle finger, as former president Richard Nixon learnt in the 1950s — when he greeted a Brazilian crowd with the sign as he left his plane and was booed.
• You will need a doctor’s prescription in order to chew gum in Singapore — and doing otherwise could lead to a fine. The sale and purchase of chewing gum has been prohibited in Singapore since the 1980s.

Women are expected to observe different forms of etiquette to men when visiting Buddhist temples in places such as Thailand. Touching or handing a monk something if you are a woman requires the monk to undergo a ritual of cleansing. Even the monks’ own mothers are not exempt from this practice.