SEMPORNA: Sabah government has urged tour operators to play an active role in looking after the wellbeing of children when conducting tourism activities.
State Tourism, Culture and Environment minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin was referring to incidents of photographers taking nude pictures of sea gypsy kids off Omadal island here.
"I am aware of this issue and regret what happened. I request all tour operators who may bring tourists or cameramen from foreign countries to advise them not to take nude photos, especially of children.
"I also urge tourists or anyone else not to persecute the Palau community or sea gypsies for their own benefit," he told the New Straits Times.
Jafry also said that the gypsies should be educated considering that the islands off Semporna had become an attraction not only to domestic but foreign tourists.
The incident was highlighted by a community teacher, Jefry Musa, on his YouTube channel with a video showing groups of photographers with sophisticated gadgets snapping nude pictures of kids off Omadal island here.
In his video, he had asked those foreign photographers if it would be all right for him to go to their houses and take pictures of their children without clothes on.
"They know that it is wrong and would not want other people taking the pictures of their naked children.
"The community here has no education and thus is easily exploited. But they (the photographers) do not care about it as long as they can get pictures and show them off when they go back home.
"We also do not know what those pictures are for," he said in the video.
The teacher, at Iskul Sama Dilaut Omadal here, added that it was disheartening to see how the community here was being exploited and treated inhumanely by tourists.
When asked how those photographers went to the island, he said they were brought in by boatmen and it was not the first time such groups had behaved so shabbily.
Previously, a group of tourists on a registered tourist boat came to the Omadal island during a schooling session and had asked those children to swim for them for a photo opportunity.
Another incident happened off Mabul island where a tourist recorded himself on TikTok video dumping the rice he was eating on a sea gypsy child.