Thursday, 11 June 2015

Tourists disrespect sacred mountain- did they get what they deserved?

At the base of Ayer's Rock in central Australia, tourists line up every day to climb the rock, known to the local Aboriginal people as "Uluru". And every day those people try to dissuade the tourists from doing just that, arguing that Uluru is sacred to them, and has been for thousands of years, and that tramping up it for fun is disrespecting their spiritual traditions.

How many people take the advice on board and decide not to? My guess would be very few; certainly hundreds of people do climb it every day of the year. The fact that no action is ever taken against any of them should tell you all you need to know about the position of Aboriginal people in modern Australia.

However, the situation appears to be rather different in Malaysia, as we have seen today. Mt Kinabalu is held as sacred by the local tribespeople, and the tourists who streaked, or however you want to describe it, on its summit knew this perfectly well, as they had been warned against such an escapade by their local tour guide. But oh no, they knew better, didn't they? And now at least one of them is in jail, she is "scared" and "very upset". Boo hoo.

Having said that I don't think the Malaysian minister helped the situation very much when he actually ascribed an earthquake to the god's anger at such a desecration of the holy site. That kind of talk can get people lynched. I mean, it's Malaysia, not Westeros.

My suggested remedy is to deport the offenders quietly with a warning to behave with a little more respect next time they encounter a different culture. People from the West have a long tradition of riding roughshod over the culture and traditions of the world, but that's no reason to go on doing it forever.

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