A University of Southampton graduate has been arrested in Malaysia after posing naked on top of a mountain.
Eleanor Hawkins, who obtained a Masters degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 2014, had been travelling in South-East Asia since January.
Eleanor Hawkins moments before her arrest in Malaysia
The incident, locals claim, has “upset the Gods” and was the reason an earthquake struck days after, killing 18 climbers on the mountain. Eleanor’s father, Timothy Hawkins, told the Telegraph: “She’s pretty scared and upset. We really hope they don’t try and make an example of her”.
She was part of a group that took the photo on top of Mount Kinabalu. The official complaint to police says their guide told them not to do it, but they reportedly replied: “Stupid man, go to hell”.
Eleanor Hawkins was detained 10 days after the photo was taken.
Park rangers complained to the police about the incident which happened on 30 May. Ms. Hawkins was arrested on Tuesday, and three Germans and a Dutchman handed themselves in shortly afterwards.
At least six other members of the group are still being sought after.
Ronny Cham, her lawyer in Malaysia, told the Daily Mail: “We don’t know when she’ll next be appearing in court after she was remanded earlier. It could be Friday or next Monday. But she is holding up OK.”
Tan Sri Alfred Jabu, the deputy first minister of Sarawak state, an area near to the mountain, blamed the tourists who took the photo for a recent earthquake which killed eighteen climbers on the mountain. He has led calls for the group to be punished. He told media:
Some places have their own historical background and are sacred to the local community and, as such, visitors to these places should respect the place, the local traditions and cultures.
If we go to a mountain, there is what I call a mountain protocol to be observed. We local people believe that there is someone, the guardians of these places, and there is a form of order of sacredness for those who go to the mountain to respect.
Tribal elders have also called for them to be taken to a native court and charged “10 head of buffalo, according to local customs”. Sabah State’s Minister for Tourism, Masidi Manjun, also blamed the earthquakes on the tourists.
The photo is believed to have “upset the Gods”
Canadian Emil Kaminski, understood to be the ‘leader’ of the group, reacted angrily to Manjun’s comments on Twitter before being arrested on the 9th of June, calling him a “dildo” and an “idiot”.
Masidi Manjun, a Malaysian tourism minister, blames the earthquake on nudity. Dildo.
— Emil Kaminski ()
He said the reaction to the picture was just Malaysians being “butthurt”.
So much butthurt in Malaysia right now… People do some streaking on a mountain, get blamed for earthquake.
— Emil Kaminski ()
He also put a video on his YouTube channel called “Trolling Malaysia”, in which he suggests to the Minister of Tourism to “lobotomise yourself with heavy machinery”. It currently has over 100,000 views.
What do you think of the situation? Let us know in the comments below!
Shit photo to pick. She’s usually very pretty.
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And that matters because…? Pretty or not she’s still a bit of gap yah idiot, should have more respect
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And why do you think it’s important that they use a picture that YOU would find attractive in the article? Irrelevant.
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These people have mobile phones in their pockets and use the internet and other modern technological marvels, but they still believe that a naked woman caused an angry mountain to have an earthquake?
Absolutely mental.
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Yes, the whole country is modernised and has a western attitude. Or, perhaps, like here in the west there is a spectrum of beliefs… It was here in our technologically advanced country that a UKIP nutjob blamed the floods last year on gays because God was angry. Would ‘ve been lovely to think that was reported around the world as the typical thoughts of a UK national. It is the offence caused to people’s beliefs that is the issue here and beliefs are deep rooted. This group was told it was inappropriate and yet they did it anyway… Now the fact a supposedly intelligent graduate of ours did that is absolutely mental!
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Definitely don’t agree with the whole ‘causing an earthquake’ thing, but quite frankly I don’t feel bad for them being arrested on these facts. They went to someone else’s country and disrespected their culture, tradition, and religion. It’s rude and tasteless. There is so much talk about how people who come to the UK should deal with the way the English live or leave. The same applies here. If they can’t have basic respect for Malaysian life, they should not be there at all.
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Shes obviously a stupid gap yah, but do you really think we are disrespecting culture when we say whoever locked these people up are idiots for such silly beliefs.
Its also quite possible that many people of the Sarawak state are actually quite embarrassed at their governments ridiculous superstitious actions. Also perhaps blaming earth quakes on gap yahs is a smoke screen to cover lack of action by the government that could reduce the death toll in an earthquake such as better building codes and good evacuation measures.
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That’s a bit ridiculous though, we know they didn’t cause the earthquake and that’s what they are charged on. Fair enough a slap on their wrists, but jail for a bit of side-boob?
Do you think we should ban the burqa because it’s against our traditions of letting women wear what they want?
pretty much the same principle
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Just a “bit of side boob” Ellie? Nothing to do with the matter that this is a sacred area to those that hold deep religious beliefs in the Malaysian community and a region of the world well known for its conservative values too. This girl and her travel buddies are a bunch of Gap Yah douche bags. Your reference to the burqa also makes me suspect that you’re likely a UKIP voter or possibly BNP for your seemingly complete misunderstanding of the point that this individual directly insulted the values of a set of people in their home nation when it is blindingly obvious her actions would cause offense. You’re probably the sort of person who thinks it’s ok to urinate on a gravestone or the cenotaph too.
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Oh yep, lets go down the line of labelling me UKIP,
That’s really mature
Malaysia is a Muslim majority country
Last time i read up, sacred mountains are called idolatry in Islam
It’s just a political fad by the Malaysian authorities to downplay their shoddy response to the earthquake
Furthermore why are you defending a country who have ‘traditions’ include the death penalty and the systematic subjugation of women and minorities.
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Well your comment was a bit UKIP, why did you bring the burqa in to this? Hardly “the same principle” at all.
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They’ve not been charged with causing the earthquake. They were charged with causing a public disturbance.
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Pics or it didn’t happen.
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In response to Mr “I know how to swear every 3 words” Emil in the video , I’m afraid to say that knowing about tectonic plates doesn’t make you more clever than everybody else. He doesn’t seem to grasp the problem here is their lack of respect for other people.
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She’s fit.
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Yes, the fact that they believe something like that could anger some invisible beings does seem daft to us, but that’s their culture. And when you’re in someone else’s country, you respect their culture. If they had sufficient warning, then they really have no excuse. However, the Malaysian government would be daft to impose any severe punishments on these people if they want tourists to continue visiting their country.
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Angry mountain is only a headline for publicity. You know the do’s and dont’s before you travel to other country. I bet you will make research. I see it everywhere people carrying their pocket Lonely Planet.
Respect other people country if you want us to respect you too.
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Respect the culture of the Counrty you visit, simple. These are supposed to be intelegent and educated people.
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I went to Malaysia. I bought an entire wardrobe of long sleeved, conservative clothes before I went. No one is reasonably suggesting that she’s caused an earthquake with the power of her mind and/or boobs, but regardless it should be a non-issue, because it never should have happened.
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She should have it done in Portswood…
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Some in the UK are laughing at their traditional beliefs, but forgieners could easily laugh at some of our traditions like Christmas trees, Easter chocolates and unlucky number 13.
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Yes, imagine if someone dared to disrespect unlucky number 13
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Having known Ellie, I know she’s not a ‘gap yah idiot’ , the only idiots are the ones throwing annoymous judgements on her in these comments from behind a laptop. Also the Soton Tab spreading speculative rumour about these guys calling their guide ‘a stupid man’ says more about what an immature paper this is than the character of those involved.
Next time you’re shamelessly spilling a jesticle over yourself and dribbling over an unattainable crush on the dance floor, take a look at yourself, you’re not the one who had the balls to travel the world. Who’s looking like a ‘stupid idiot’ now?
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She is.
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Seems odd that the BBC, Times, Guardian etc are all saying the same story (for once Tab may be reporting factual information). As one who had a gap year I made sure I was aware of the cultural sensitivities of the countries I visited. It’s not hard to respect customs, I took long trousers and shirts on day trips to temples so I could cover up and identified when it was inappropriate to expose flesh. I’m wondering what the uni will make of this considering the Malaysian campus we have and the strong links to the Engineering department.
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You’re confusing speculative rumours with formal allegations.
As for who looks stupid – she does. And she will enjoy a lifetime of explaining why this is the first thing that shows up when prospective employers google her name.
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She might as well not have bothered doing her masters now unfortunately.
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“The balls to travel the world”
Oh come one… Ellie has the privelige of a nice upbringing in a first world country and all the benefits that being a caucasian westerner that comes along with that.
Great she has some private wealth that means she can go on a nice long holiday. It’s not brave… it’s a luxury that plenty of people across the rest of the world couldn’t even dream of.
It’s not climbing Mt Everest FFS. She made a mistake but don’t try and paint Ellie as some sort of crusading heroine. She should know better.
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Well said.
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