We should tear a strip off these travellers

I guess you will have heard about the 24-year old British woman who has been arrested in Malaysia for posing naked on top of a sacred mountain?

It all sounds a bit bonkers really. After all, it was just a bit of a lark, a prank, a right-of-passage escapade – but one that could end with a young woman in jail.

“She’s pretty scared and quite upset,” said her father. “We really hope they don’t try to make an example of her.”

Well, sorry dad, but I hope they do. I’m not suggesting she should languish in a hellhole prison cell (they are all hell holes outside the UK, aren’t they?) but made an example of – definitely.

You see, I’m getting tired of people misusing the world. By that I mean inexperienced young people not bothering to prepare for a trip to some exotic destination.

In my youth, a visit to Southend on Sea was an adventure.

Abroad meant the Isle of Wight.

Not a great change in culture there, then.

Nowadays, in the words of that great sage Del Trotter, “the world is your lobster, Rodney”.

But as the world has opened up and a gap year means extensive travel in far-flung places rather than some waiting job in south Devon, people seem to be heading off without any preparation.

A’levels, degrees, doctorates, whatever, don’t guarantee common sense.

So, young peoples of the UK, DO SOME RESEARCH.

You spend all your life with a smart phone glued to your ear so use the bl**dy thing to check out your destination on this t’internet thingy.

You may find customs and traditions a bit quaint and outdated but they should always be respected.

Or perhaps buy a decent guide book – and READ IT, don’t just look at the pretty pictures.

In our Dubai days, it was an imprisonable offence to live with someone if you were not married. It still is, I believe. OK, that didn’t stop people doing it but at least they didn’t shout about the situation.

Unlike our naked mountain girl, who probably posted photos of herself on Insectgram or Tracebook or Twatter or some such.

Now tribal elders in Malaysia have called for the case to also go before a native court.

“To appease the mountain protector, the 10 western tourists who stripped and urinated on Mount Kinabalu should be fined 10 head of buffalo, according to local customs,” said Tindarama Aman Sirom Simbuna.

He said the fee was more than the usual fine of 10 chickens or one pig.

“According to local beliefs, the spirit of the mountain is very angry.”

Now that’s what I call proper justice.