Guests at Sipadan Water Village, Mabul were recently 'treated' to shark fin soup at their Chinese New Year dinner. This completely ignores the plight of sharks in the surrounding oceans and undermines the hard work of others in trying to protect sharks in Sabah. Please boycott this resort and hopefully they will get the message that serving shark fin soup is a completely unacceptable practice for a dive centre to follow.
Many thanks.
Hi mistersnaps, please clarify your travel status. Are you working for scuba junkie? You made 2 postings on the same day, one which glorifies scuba junkie and another that rips sipadan water village (SWV). Both places are located next to each other which makes this look like a competitive smear campaign, especially as SWV is widely regarded as the forerunner for marine conservation.
If they indeed served shark fin soup that would be a very poor conduct and should be posted. Any pics of the menu by any chance? Any SWV resort guest who was there and can confirm this?
And there may be a reason to avoid Sipadan altogether. The British High Commission recently warned
of possible terrorist activity in the region of east Sabah including Sipadan.
Sabah has been making significant efforts to ban the sale and use of shark fin lately. I just recently left the area, (about 3 months ago), and the story at that time was that new legislation against the use of shark fin was going to be started to be enforced around mid 2012. Until then, it is still legal so you can bet your bottom dollar it is going to be served at CNY! Of course!!!! Even when it is outlawed, I am sure affluent Chinese Malaysians will still be serving it at their weddings. Tradition is tradition after all.
Ha ha ha, I will continue to always laugh at these warnings about never going to Sipadan because some people were kidnapped there. That happened in excess of a decade ago. Once. But if it keeps some people afraid of Sipadan, that works for me! I don't mind having such a treasure to myself in the least bit.
The problem is- there are now warnings from the Australian and American State Departments- made
January 15 (2 weeks ago) of a possibly imminent criminal/terrorist attack in the area of Sipadan/
East Sabah
Kenko, can you provide links to these three warnings you are mentioning (in your earlier post you said UK, and in this last one USA and Australia)?
I can find nothing in the US Department of State's travel advisory pages (Travel Warning nor Travel Alert) regarding a current advisory for anywhere in Malaysia.
Australia does seem to have an alert, but it's from August 2011, not two weeks ago, and the advice is given as 'reconsider travel' not 'do not travel':
>We strongly advise you to reconsider your need to travel to the islands, dive sites and coastal areas of eastern Sabah because of the high threat of kidnapping by terrorists and criminals. Information of August 2011 indicates that terrorists continue to plan kidnapping operations in eastern Sabah, including but not limited to Mataking, Sipadan, Kapalai, Pandanan and Mabul Islands. In the past, terrorists have kidnapped foreigners from coastal areas of eastern Sabah, the islands and surrounding waters. If you do decide to travel to this region, you should exercise extreme caution.
The UK also mentions the possibility of abduction, but they are citing an event near Semporna that occurred in Feb 2010 as a basis, and there is no indication that there is an imminent threat, and furthermore, they do not word it as a warning, but as a 'caution':
>There are indications that both criminal and terrorist groups are planning violent acts against foreign tourists in eastern Sabah. Of particular concern are resorts located in isolated parts of eastern Sabah including Semporna and the islands of Mabul and Sipadan. This includes transportation routes to and from island resorts. Terrorist groups and criminal gangs have been responsible for acts of piracy and kidnappings of foreign tourists in eastern Sabah in the past. Travellers should exercise caution if travelling in these areas.
