AUG 9 — While the whole country is in grief for the two crashed flights and amidst the pandemonium political atmosphere resulted from the Selangor Menteri Besar issue, a video showing a group of men and women, all in nude, playing at the Teluk Kampi beach of Penang National Park has triggered an uproar.
Nude body is the most natural and concealed part of mankind. Being in nude is tantamount to lifting the veil of privacy and even if it is personal preference, it has still crossed the moral line of Malaysian society. The uproar triggered by a series a nude events in Penang has shown that collectively undressing in public places will certainly provoke criticism.
In fact, the six women and nine men from our country, Singapore, Myanmar, India and the Philippines played at the beach on 31 May and the video showed them participated in various games in nude, without any onlookers. The authorities got to know about it only through the video posted online about two months later. The slow response is obvious. It has also reflected flaws in the management and supervision system of the Penang National Park.
Although without indecent and immorality sexual gestures, in view of the country’s conservative mindset and religious morality, it is indeed understandable for the nudists to be accused of outraging public decency and insulting the image of Malaysia. However, some politicians have apparently overreacted when they pointed fingers at each other while playing with political languages and mutually nitpicking.
Teluk Bahang state assemblyman Datuk Shah Headan Ayoob Hussain Shah, who is also in the Penang National Park management committee, suggested that state Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng should personally pay a visit to the beach to understand the situation; Penang Wanita Umno head, Senator Norliza Abdul Rahim said that the elected state government and Lim must be responsible for the incident; while Penang Umno Liaison Committee chairman Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman criticised that Lim seems to have tried to shirk responsibility.
Lim responded that nudist camp is absolutely illegal in the country, but the state government and the Penang Natural Park management did not know about it. Since the Penang National Park came under the jurisdiction of the federal government, the state government will give the federal government adequate time and space to investigate. In other words, the nudist camp is the responsibility of the federal government and has nothing to do with the state government.
The mutually bucking responsibility attitude of politicians has been exposed in the issue involving 15 nudists. In fact, nudist camps had not taken place only in Penang, but also resort beaches in Perak, Terengganu and Johor. It is common in foreign countries and in the US alone, as many as 260 beaches allow nudity. There is even a nude teen summer camp in Florida. The New South Wales Nude Beaches are having 18 years of history, and three months ago, German city Munich has given green light to allow nude sunbathing in six parks. There are a number of well-known nude beaches even in relatively conservative Asia, such as China, Japan, Hong Kong and Indonesia.
For the participants, undressing means getting back to nature, a move helps in eliminating class barriers, so that people can get along sincerely and peacefully. However, despite the freedom and right for undressing, even without showing nudity and making obscene gestures to the public, it is still unable to cross over the moral fence of the country. According to our laws, deliberate body exposure could constitute to the intention of insulting others and offenders could be charged and sentenced under the Criminal Code. — mysinchew.com
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail Online.
