Eight people have been arrested for participating in a nudist sports festival in Malaysia, with the organizer apologizing to the public of the Muslim-majority state for staging the event.
WARNING: Images below contain some nudity
Video from the festival – entitled “Nude Sport Games 2014” –
quickly went viral after appearing on social media in early
August.
The footage showed over a dozen naked people engaged in different
activities on a remote beach in Malaysia’s northwestern state of
Penang.
According to the video, the program for the naturist event
included body painting, dancing and relay races.
There were also some unique disciplines during the meetup, including ‘Swim over body,’ in which a nude woman was crawling over the bodies of three naked males, and ‘Gangnam style! Horse dance’ that required a female to ride on a man’s back.
The popularity of the video landed its stars in big trouble,
causing outrage among Malaysia’s Muslim population.
Those appearing on the video are now being investigated by the
police for acts of public obscenity and “insulting the
modesty” of others, which may lead to prison terms of up to
five years.
Eight people – including one of the organizers, Albert Yam – have
already been arrested by Malaysian law enforcement.
Yam, who currently remains in custody, has written an open letter
to the Penang authorities and expressed his apologies, the New
Straits Times reports.
“We will not do it again and please accept our deepest
apologies for our misconduct, which has caused embarrassment to
the country,” he told AFP.
The police are still looking for seven other Nude Sport Games
2014 participants, including citizens of Myanmar and the
Philippines, said Lai Fah Hin, Penang district police chief.