Penang Nude Sports Games 2014 saga

=Initial reports=

On Tuesday, 5 August 2014, an article on a Malaysian news website based in Kuala Lumpur named The Rakyat Post drew the general public's attention to a video uploaded to Vimeo purportedly depicting Singaporeans organising a “nude sports games” in a secluded part of Penang island which had begun to make its rounds and had set tongues a-wagging. The controversy surrounding the video was also reported by Malaysiakini which spun the story with a local political slant:



The 5-minute 26-second video, which was uploaded to Vimeo by a user identified only as Axxxxx, showcased about 18 nudists, both men and women, holding their annual “Malaysia Nude Sports Games 2014″. A check by The Rakyat Post (TRP) later showed that Axxxxx could be Axxxxx Yxx, who was credited as the director in the video. Further sleuthing led to the discovery that Yxx was a member of Naturism in Singapore where he wrote the following in his introduction: “I am a friendly nudist. I love outdoor activities. I organised nude activities in Singapore. I’m the moderator of SgNudClub. :-)”

According to the video’s description, the self-proclaimed naturists and nudists had assembled at Teluk Bahang jetty, Penang, where they then made their way to a secluded part of the island, believed to be Pantai Kerachut, a 2km-long beach along Teluk Kampi which is about 4.5km from the entrance of the park and about 35 minutes by boat from the Teluk Bahang jetty. The uploader, Axxxxx, claimed that the 18 of them were the only ones on the site.

The event kicked off with the participants, who professed to be nature lovers and nudists, body painting each other after stripping down before going for a 2km walk and skinny dipping. It was believed to have taken place in a single day.

The video's footnotes thanked one Miss Cxxx for organising the event and the "naturists for coming and making history in Malaysia". An announcement: "See you this coming Dec 5, 2014, the Asian Nude Sport Games and Conference in Penang, Malaysia" was also made in the video. The video footage claimed that the activity took place on 30 May 2014.

The Star reported that on Facebook, the link to the video was shared over 260 times and had triggered a debate over its authenticity. It was uploaded on video sharing website Vimeo two months before but, owing to the brouhaha, was taken down by the afternoon of Tuesday, 5 August 2014 at around 2pm. One Malaysian blogger had downloaded the video just before it was removed and reuploaded it on the same day to his own Vimeo account with the title, "Pesta Bogel Di Pulau Penang". However, on Monday, 11 August 2014, Vimeo removed or disabled access to bootleg video as a result of a third-party notification by Axxxxx Yxx who claimed the material infringed his copyright.

Questions were being asked by the Malaysian public as to how such activities could be allowed on Malaysian soil since it was clear that local by-laws had been violated, besides the event going against local culture and sensitivities.

Teluk Bahang assemblyman Shah Headan Ayoob Hussain said park officers had been instructed to check the visitor registration records for clues. He said, "The background in the clip resembles a site at the Penang National Park. But it is hard to imagine that these nudists could have gone unnoticed when about 500 people visit the park daily. We are afraid that the video may have been doctored. It is best that we let the authorities investigate and not jump to conclusions but if such a thing did indeed happen here, I feel that it shouldn't have as we are a conservative country."

Meanwhile, the Penang state government said it had no knowledge of any “nude sports” event. Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said that the state would not even approve a casino for Penang, let alone sanction an event for nudists. He added, “We’ll let the police investigate the matter.”

Review by participant
An editorial in Malay entitled, "Pesta Bogel Di Teluk Bahang, Penang?" published by Suara TV included a brief write-up of the event posted below the video by one of its participants, Jxxxxx,:

"Here is my review and report for the Malaysia-International Nude Sports Games 2014 Extravaganza.

On that day, we all assembled at the Teluk Bahang jetty in Penang. Many of us arrived early and went to the nearest Malay food restaurant to grab our lunch which was only located just outside the jetty’s main entrance. It was such a lovely sunny afternoon and we were all excited about this event.

Later as the time reached 2.30pm, we walked to the jetty and met up with the others who had also just arrived. One of our nudist friends CWxxxxx, was not able to attend the event because he was on a family trip in Penang but he showed up anyway at the jetty just to watch us go off into our boats and wished us all the best for our event.

As we waited for the boatmen to get ready, the skies were already starting to look gloomy and the waves started to get a little rough. We split into 2 boats and thus began our journey to the secret beach that was located around the back of Penang island.

As we were traveling through the seas, it was a bumpy ride as the boat swayed up and down through the rough waves. It was thrilling yet fun. We were all laughing and smiling to each other. We also took several selfie photos too =)

Then we finally arrived to our destination. It was a very quiet beach. The atmosphere was so calm and peaceful. The view of the beach and sea was spectacular. We were the only visitors there. We unloaded our things from the boat and Ms Cxxx went to approach a ranger who was in charge of that place and also who was apparently on duty alone by himself on that fine day.

After verifying with the ranger about our nude event, we moved to a hut nearby and started stripping. We began our first activity with nude body painting. Everyone actively took part in this. We took turns by painting someone else's body and later got painted in return. There were many interesting and nice body drawings. Some of us had flowers, trees, abstract and even cartoon character drawings on our bodies.

Then we took many photos of each other. We also moved to the beach and took several group photos of our body paintings. Later, we proceeded to our next activity which was the sports games where we played pass-the-baton running, swim-over-body challenge and the group crab walk. There was so much laughter everywhere and by the time we entered the 3rd game, many of us were already exhausted.

We then took a nude walk along the beach which stretched about 2km long. There were also some of us who went to skinny dip in the sea. One of the persons among us was our videographer and he recorded every moment of our event without missing a single one. The beach was so clean and the sand was so fine. Along the way, you could also find seashells lying around the beach.

As we walked further up till the far end of the beach, we came across some very nice looking rocks that were great for taking pictures and we did plenty of photo sessions there. Our videographer also went to interview a few of us about the joys and perspective of naturism for our event video.

We literally had the whole beach to ourselves. It really felt like a nude beach because everyone that was present there was all nude. There was no disturbance from the outside world. For once we really got to enjoy the natural environment and atmosphere just as how nature intended it to be.

After all the fun, we walked back to our hut. As we reached the hut, suddenly a boat appeared from the sea and arrived at our beach. We quickly dressed up just in time and later found out that the men in the boat actually brought our meals for dinner.

We had asam laksa, nasi lemak, mihun goreng, chicken satay, fish barbeque, keropok lekor and Sarsi syrup. We had a wonderful dinner. There was so much of food to eat until eventually there were a few leftovers and extra packets of food left. Then we decided to save some for supper.

After dinner, we had our shower and went to set up our sleeping bags. We even set up a tent in the hut specially catered for those who got bitten by mosquitoes a lot. We also went to set up a campfire just outside of the hut.

We used the natural resources we could find within our reach such as branches, dry leaves, etc., to start the fire. We even got some assistance from the ranger where he splashed some kerosene to get the flames bigger. After the fire was stable, some of us stripped and stood around the fire while enjoying the beauty of it burning in the dark."

=New Paper & Straits Times articles=

As news of the video spread across the Causeway, the Singaporean tabloid, The New Paper published an article on the same day, Tuesday, 5 August 2014, describing the huge furore that the video had caused in Malaysia. It sourced its information from the Malaysian newspapers, the Malay Mail and The Star.

Nude activities filmed
In the video, participants could be seen indulging in body painting, relay racing one another in the nude, doing a crab walk, performing kettlebell exercises around a campfire and a “Gangnam style horse dance” where a woman straddled a man on his back as he walked forward on all fours. In one activity, a naked woman was seen trying to climb over three men as they lay shoulder-to-shoulder in the sand. Aside from taking pictures of each other in the nude, the participants strolled about and danced with one another. They also sat around a fire and camped for the night.



Most participants' nationalities traced
The following day, on Wednesday, 6 August 2014, The Straits Times also published an article containing additional details.

It reported that the Penang police were investigating the video which showed around 18 nudists, including Malaysians and Singaporeans, taking part in nude events at the beach, Pantai Kerachut, in Teluk Bahang.



Malaysia's New Straits Times (NST) had quoted the police as saying that 7 of the 18 nudists were Malaysians, 4 were Singaporeans, 2 from Myanmar and 1 each from the Philippines and India. The remaining nudists had yet to be identified. The newspaper wrote that state police chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi announced the police had taken statements from 10 people and groups, excluding the nudists, over the incident. "We now know what had taken place but will not reveal anything more until we have completed our investigations," he told reporters on Wednesday, 6 August 2014.

The New Paper quipped that if one thought being a nudist in Singapore was rather uncommon, the video and more would prove one was wrong. Evidence for this was the existence of Naturism in Singapore, an online site which brought local nudists together. The group worked very much like any other social site where one could make friends and meet up with the nudists one liked who caught one's attention. The tabloid surmised it explained how 4 out of the 18 people involved in the Penang Nude Sports Games 2014 video had been identified by the Penang police as Singaporeans - by combing through the group's posts.

The police had also gathered DNA samples and finger prints from a house where the nudists were believed to have stayed in. A team of 10 personnel from the districts' forensic unit had started combing for evidence at several spots where the nudists were believed to have hung out.

Tracking down local & foreign participants
The Penang police said that it would seek Interpol's help to trace 8 of the 15 foreigners. "We believe we can trace them soon so that they can assist in the investigation into the incident," the state police chief told reporters on Thursday, 7 August 2014. He said the police were trying to track down the Malaysians, aged between 20 and 50, failing which they would publish their mugshots and identities so that the public could help trace them.

He also said that the police had recorded statements from 13 people over the "carnival", including those on patrol duty during the so-called games. The police had also identified the organiser of the games, a Malaysian in his 50s who was also a participant, as well as the individual, a foreigner, who made the video recording and uploaded it to social media websites.

If found guilty under Section 509 of the Malaysian Penal Code for committing a gesture intended to insult the modesty of a person, they could face a jail term of up to 5 years, a fine or both.

On Thursday, 7 August 2014, The Straits Times ran an article drawing attention to the fact that 4 of the nudists were Singaporeans. When contacted, the Penang police declined to reveal their names.

However, the newspaper believed that one of them was Mr Axxxxx Yxx who moderated a Yahoo online group for local nudists. Mr Yxx could not be reached for comment the day before.

A participant in the event, Mr Mxxxxx Cxxxxx from the Philippines, had written about his experience on the nudist forum International Young Naturists Organisation two months prior, and provided a list of those attending. Mr Yxx's name was among those listed.

According to lawyer Tan Hee Joek, the Malaysian authorities could request the assistance of their counterparts in Singapore to extradite the alleged Singaporean offenders who may be punishable for 6 months or more under Malaysian law.

=Reaction of Malaysian public=

An article published by AsiaOne on Wednesday, 5 August 2014, which sourced its news from The Star and Asia News Network described the reaction towards the viral video as ranging from utter shock to nonchalance,.

Commenting on the "Malaysia Nude Sports Games" that was revealed to have been held in May 2014, Twitter user @laylamajusi said she was a supporter of nudism as well as having nude beaches, and believed that it was time to start talking about naturism in Malaysia.

"Personally, I endorse nudism/naturism. There's nothing wrong with it if they were doing it privately," she tweeted. "We were born nude. So why must we fear the very state we were born in?" she added.

Another tweeter @nudeboyuk said that the "games" looked like fun. "But I don't think I would try the kettlebell exercises with my history of accidents," he tweeted.

@AsmidarMamaAufa expressed her dismay over the video: "Omg! They are wearing their birthday suit!"

Meanwhile, @zulhimiamar said the video did not offer a "pretty sight". "When they say nude, I thought it would be a pretty sight. I was wrong," he tweeted.

Several tweeters also expressed their outrage over the incident.

@HRDipendra said: "It's a good thing that Malaysia has laws against indecency. The Nude Sports Games 2014 is why we need laws on indecency and public morals."

Tweeter @surfme61 called the nude games "a disgrace" and questioned if the nudists were examples of "civilised, cultural and developed behaviour".

"What have we Malaysians become?" questioned @4r544, adding that such behaviour was like "returning back to the Stone Age".

=Nudist filmed in buff before in Singapore=

On Friday, 8 August 2014, The Straits Times published an article claiming that self-proclaimed naturist Axxxxx Yxx, who was among the 18 people wanted by the Penang police for taking part in the event, had in the past filmed himself naked in public places in Singapore, including MacRitchie Reservoir, Changi beach and the East Coast Park.



The most recent video that Yxx, a Singapore permanent resident (PR), uploaded of his exploits involved him and a handful of like-minded people baring all at Goldkist Resorts, which rented out chalets at the East Coast Park. The activities, which allegedly took place on 27 July 2014, were not confined to the chalet, but took place outdoors as well.

A female Malaysian citizen, Cxxx Txx Hxx, who had allegedly organised the nudist event in Penang in May 2014, was pictured leaning on a tree in the resort naked. Mr Yxx, a Malaysian national in his mid-50s, could also be seen posing on a bench nude. The pictures were seemingly taken while no one else was around.

When asked about the gathering, Goldkist Resorts said that such behaviour was not allowed on its premises. "We are a family chalet," said a spokesman, adding that no one had reported the incident to the management previously.

The Straits Times managed to view 4 local videos, ranging from 4 to 10 minutes, which were posted by Mr Yxx. They were all time-stamped. According to the videos, those who took part were members of a Yahoo group called SgNudClub founded in May 2006. It listed 619 members at the time.

One video dated 30 March 2014 showed 2 men and a woman swimming naked at a beach in Changi. They also suntanned nude, flashing peace and thumbs-up signs at the camera. Others showed Mr Yxx and his friends naked in public outdoor showers, and while doing kettlebell exercises and yoga naked. No sexual contact was involved.

The videos, which were usually set to songs, ended with the words "Axxxxx Yxx Productions". Captions such as "What's (sic) a lovely day at the beach" and "Thank you all for watching" were also included.

According to lawyer Tan Hee Joek, Mr Yxx could be charged with appearing nude in public, and making and distributing obscene films. If found guilty, he was liable to be jailed or fined or both.

Mr Yxx, who was then unemployed and married with 3 daughters, had since taken down the videos or made them private after coming under scrutiny.

He did not answer calls from The Straits Times. His Facebook page, along with Miss Cxxx's, was also taken down the day before.

Although already identified by the Penang police, none of the participants of the nudist event at the secluded beach in Teluk Kampi at the Teluk Bahang National Park had come forward. Penang police chief Abdul Rahim Hanafi said that unless they did so, their details and photographs would be made public. "We will also contact Interpol in Bukit Aman to get help from our counterparts overseas to trace their citizens who were involved," he added.

In another report in The Rakyat Post, Mr Yxx was quoted as saying he was willing to come forward but that the police "must pay for my coach fares". Surprised that the video had become such a big issue, he said: "We will still continue with such activities, but just not now."

=Female participant detained by police=

On Saturday, 9 August 2014, The New Paper published an article, sourced from The Star, which reported that the Penang police had detained a woman to help with their investigations regarding the nudist event.

The private music teacher, 34, gave a statement after she was picked up at an undisclosed location on the night of Thursday, 7 August 2014. “She has since been released on police bail,” Supt Lai Fah Hin announced at the district police headquarters on 8 August 2014.

He said they had also identified two key suspects, retired teacher Cxxx Txx Hxx, 57, and Axxxxx Yxx, believed to be in his 50s. They were allegedly participants and organisers of the event on 30 May 2014. Cxx was purportedly from Sungai Petani while Yxx was a Singaporean permanent resident.

The Malaysian police added that those found guilty of conducting lewd activities in a public place could be jailed for up to 3 months, fined or both.

=See also=
 * List of social nudity places in Asia
 * Nudism in Singapore
 * Nudity in East Asian cinema

=References=
 * Sukhbir Cheema, "Nudies in Penang: How was this allowed?", The Rakyat Post, 5 August 2014.
 * Susan Loone, "Video alleges nudist sports event in Penang", Malaysiakini, 5 August 2014.
 * "Caught on video: 18 nudists including Malaysians and Singaporeans at Penang beach", The Straits Times, 6 August 2014.
 * "Video of 'nude games' on Penang beach creates social media storm", The New Paper, 5 August 2014.
 * Editorial, "Pesta Bogel Di Teluk Bahang, Penang?", Suara TV, 5 August 2014,.
 * "Penang nudist beach: Netizens' reactions range from shock to nonchalance", AsiaOne, 6 August 2014,.
 * Hafiz Al-Din, "[VIDEO] PESTA BOGEL DI NEGERI @cmlimguaneng !! (KEMASKINI)", Tenteramaya, Blogspot, 5 August 2014.
 * Hafiz Al-Din, "PESTA BOGEL TELUK BAHANG: IDENTITI 'PEMBOGEL' DIKENALPASTI!", Tenteramaya, Blogspot, 6 August 2014.
 * Pradeep Nambiar, "15 nudists' nationalities identified", Yahoo! News/New Straits Times, 6 August 2014.
 * Latashi Gobi Nathan, "Four Singaporeans involved in that nudist video", The New Paper, 6 August 2014.
 * Aw Cheng Wei, "Nudists investigated by Penang police include 4 from Singapore", The Straits Times, 7 August 2014.
 * "Police to seek interpol's help to trace nude foreigners at Penang beach in Malaysia", The Straits Times, 7 August 2014.
 * Aw Cheng Wei, "Nudist wanted in Penang was filmed in the buff here", The Straits Times, 8 August 2014.
 * "Woman, 34, in Penang nudist video held", The New Paper, 9 August 2014.