Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) is blaming growing liberalism for pictures of naked tourists atop Mount Kinabalu going viral on the social media.

Bung Mokhtar went on to say that local non-Muslims believe the naked tourist pictures offended the mountain spirit and triggered the recent Sabah earthquake.

"For Muslims, it is syirik (idolatry to believe in mountain spirits) but for the non-Muslims who live near Mount Kinabalu, it is a sacred mountain, a holy place like Angkor Wat.

"At Angkor Wat, if they take (nude) photos, they would be caught, but here, maybe, it is too open (liberal)," Bung Mokhtar ( photo ) said when tabling an emergency motion in the Dewan Rakyat to debate the earthquake that hit Sabah last Friday.

He was then reprimanded by Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia to focus on his motion, which was later approved for a one-hour debate from 4.30pm today.

The bare bottom images of apparently Caucasian males put on display were blamed by some as the cause of the recent Sabah earthquake which has killed at least 19 people.

However, the speaker’s reprimand of Bung did not stop from ranting against the tourists involved.

"These foreign tourists are uncivilised. When they reach the peak, they take off their clothes, urinate, and run around," he said.

However, Bung Mokhtar noted that there was a scientific explanation for the disaster, and that loose rocks shaken loose by the 5.6 magnitude tremors were to blame for some of the deaths.

'Set up disaster committee'

In his motion, the Sabah lawmaker urged the government to set up a disaster committee or an earthquake centre to provide early warning before a disaster struck.

 

He also proposed that the government give remuneration to the mountain guides who are currently unable to earn a living due to Mount Kinabalu's closure, as well as to create a second and safer path to the mountain top.

 

After the motion was approved Jumat Idris (BN-Sepanggar) proposed that the government absorb the mountain guides, or 'malims' as they are called, into the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Smart).

 

"Even our own Smart team, by the time they reach the peak, they are tired out, but not these malims.

"So I urge the government to look into their future and upgrade them to become Smart members," he said, adding that the guides would be useful if there was another earthquake.