If you’re travelling to another country, we usually try our best follow the local customs and laws in order to leave a good impression. However, these tourists who were visiting Malaysia apparently do not know about this common courtesy.
A Facebook user, Edrie recently posted saying that she encountered a family of tourists who chose not to use the facilities in a shopping mall in Sabah and decided to publicly change their kid’s diaper in the open. Why lah? She said that this was not the first time these kind of incidents had happened and expressed her displeasure.
She wrote, “The sight that makes me cringe every single time. Public urination/defecation and this time inside a mall where there are visible toilet signage and information counter. There is also a child changing room/nursery in Metrojaya (maybe need to have more). Yes, they’re tourists. Maybe we need signage in not just English or Bahasa Malaysia.”
Source: Facebook
The photo she took showed the couple at a corner in the shopping mall while cleaning up their child. It might have been slightly tucked away but it’s still in public! According to NST, Edrie who works at a travel agency said that she saw the family doing their “business” at around 1.30pm at the ground floor of Suria Sabah Shopping Mall.
She said that she heard their language and accents, which led her to believe that they were foreigners. Edrie added that this was not the first time she had encountered such incidents and had seen it before in other places.
“The toilet is just nearby. I didn’t see whether the child has peed but this is often the case I encountered especially among Chinese tourists. The parents will just grab their child and open their pants so they can pee there (in the open). Such public urination also happens at Gaya Street,” she added.
She also added that these public unhygienic acts are getting more common and suggests that public places should have more tourist-friendly signage to guide the tourists.
“We have a lot of tourists coming in like from China, Japan, and South Korea. Maybe we should put up more signages in various languages so the tourists are aware of the facilities around them,” she said. Several other netizens who saw the post said that they have also encountered similar situations.
Please behave well when you’re a tourist in other people’s country!
Also read: Chinese Tourists Caught Urinating in Surau At MRT Station Despite Being Told Not To