KOTA KINABALU: The iconic Kota Kinabalu City Mosque will eventually open its doors again to tourists in the near future.
Sabah Tourism, Culture and Environment minister Christina Liew confirmed this when met by the media at the Sabah Tourism Board Building here this morning.
Masjid Bandaraya
In addition, the ministry is working towards putting up cautionary signboards not only at places of worship but at touristic spots in Sabah.
The ministry’s permanent secretary Datu Rosmadi Datu Sulai also said the circular of standardized dos and don’ts is currently in the ministry’s pipelines.
A nine-second video of Chinese tourists, Wang Han, 37, and Zhang Na, 25, dancing on the fence of the Kota Kinabalu City Mosque went viral and received international attention on June 24.
The police managed to find the dancing teachers yesterday after a police report was lodged by a Sabah NGO on June 23.
They were fined RM25 each at the Kota Kinabalu Court the same day.
A reliable source revealed to the Borneo Post on June 25 that the tourists from China decided to do the dance after being awed by the beauty of the mosque.
The tour guide incharge were surprised to see the tourists dancing on the fence when returning to the bus after leading 10 out of 40 tourists in a tour bus into the mosque area.
“The guide asked them why they were dancing like that even though they had already been told that the place was a worship ground,” the source told the Borneo Post here today.
“They apologized and said that they were not aware. They gave the excuse that the mosque was too beautiful and they wanted to do a dance video clip using the mosque as the background,” said the source.
On May 24, the Kota Kinabalu City Mosque management committee decided to impose an immediate temporary ban as a result of the viral video.
All express buses, Grab cars and taxis were also banned from entering the and parking outside of the mosque.
According to the management, an average of 1,000 tourists visit the popular tourist spot daily.