Semporna man lodges report against tour guides over ‘death threats’

SANDAKAN – A 28-year-old local man from Semporna claimed that he received death threats from a group of tourists’ drivers in Semporna after he took a video of tourists taking pictures of nude Bajau Laut children.  

Jefry Musa, who is a volunteer teacher at a school for stateless children in Semporna, posted the incident on his Instagram account, saying that he has lodged a police report today after he received death threats from the said tourists’ drivers.  

According to his post, the tour guides were from two travel companies named Epic Fun and Ocean Park Tour & Travel.

They had allegedly intimidated him after he tried to call out stubborn tourists who took pictures of unclothed children, believed to be from the Bajau Laut community, without permission when they were visiting Omadal island on Thursday.

“Even though we have discussed (the matter with the tourists’ drivers), we found that they were still stubborn and brought tourists in to do the same thing.  

“So I thought that the discussions did not mean anything, and we must enforce the law,” he said in his post.  

The man ended his post by saying “Solidarity for Omadal, this is not your zoo!”.  

Semporna district police chief Mohd Farhan Abdullah later confirmed that police had received the report last Thursday, saying that the incident happened in front of a private school run by a non-government organisation on a certain island in Semporna.  

He said the incident started when a group of tour guides were dissatisfied with the man’s action of filming tourists who were taking pictures at the location.  

“The village chief later stopped their verbal fights, but several tourists’ drivers had verbally threatened to kill the man.  

“Acting on the information, today at about 1am, Semporna police’s Crime Investigation Department arrested a 29-year-old local man to assist in the probe.  

“The suspect is remanded for two days applied under Section 117 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and is investigated under Section 506 of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation,” he said.  

The offence carries a punishment of maximum of two years of imprisonment or a fine or both, upon conviction.  

Farhan asked anyone who witnessed the incident to provide information to the investigating officer, Ruslan Hardi Hamil at 016-8050885.  

Jefry has been volunteering to help the stateless Bajau Laut community in Semporna for many years. 

The Vibes is still waiting for his response regarding the matter. 

In another Instagram post, Jefry said that he and his team have been trying to explain to travel agencies why tourists are not allowed to take pictures of children, and that children must be protected by the law.  

“But when we discussed it in the morning and they agreed, the particular company came back in the evening and did the same thing; I feel that they do not even want to try to understand (this matter).” –The Vibes, June 17, 2023