Maybe @Andy_T would like to comment, as he actually lives in this country ..?
Well, I don't really know where to start, as the article touches on a number of issues.
First of all, I also consider it not very smart of the tourists to strip and take pictures. However, I think that they also would have received some kind of punishment in the US, the UK, or Australia. Public indecency is likely also a misdemeanor there and punishable (though possibly not with some days in jail and thousands of dollars of fine).
Second, as was mentioned, yes, it is always a good idea to familiarize yourself with the legal specialties of a country you travel to. That can have good and not so good reasons. E.G., in Malaysia, Singapore, and a number of other countries in Asia, there is capital punishment for drug smuggling. While this is certainly a cause for controversy (some might agree with the idea, others like myself might consider it too harsh), there are other legal specialties here that are much clearer.
An example why "local laws and customs" can be quite outrageous is Malaysia's previous Deputy Prime Minister, who was sentenced twice (!) to 5 years of jail for engaging in consensual homosexual sexual activity with his aide. There are a number of reasons to be outraged by this, first and foremost that there is even such a law in existence in Malaysia forbidding homosexual sexual intercourse at all. I can understand that drug smuggling and insulting Islam (the state religion) are punished very hard, but what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their bedroom, should not really be the concern of judges. Second, there are many who doubt that the incident occurred as it was reported in the first instance, when the deputy prime minister, who had fallen from grace by becoming too critical of the prime minister was accused by his aide of “sodomy” and the proofs offered were rather sketchy.
But most Malaysians were (and still are) rightfully skeptical that the former Deputy Prime minister (and now opposition leader), after having served 5 years in jail for sodomy would have no better idea - when meeting his former aide again whose accusation had him gotten convicted in the first place – to, well, engage in such illegal activity again immediately and hence get accused and convicted a second time. But that is a different story related to justice in Malaysia.
Third, however, yes, I guess that there are some people who are superstitious and believe that stripping on the mountain and urinating caused the earthquake. I am nevertheless skeptical that this is a widely held notion by large parts of the population.
To give another example, after Malaysian Airlines lost two aircraft, one without any trace so far as to why it vanished, the other shot down over Russia, there was some high-ranking official (professor at a governmental military university or somesuch) who went on record publicly saying that this is clearly the fault of Malaysian Airlines’ management. As they had allowed their stewardesses to dress “frivolously” (they are not wearing veils as a general policy and their dresses are figure-hugging, as at most other airlines), it is no big miracle that Allah in his infinite wisdom decided to punish them and cause the loss of these aircraft. The management should quickly change stewardesses’ attire in order to prevent further such incidents. I can say that most Malaysians do not agree with this persons ideas how to avert further airline disasters, and are rather happy that the international press has not picked up this suggestion yet as proof that Malaysians as a whole are a stupid and superstitious bunch.
They're lucky all they got was the fine and three days in jail. In superstitious places like that, the punishment could have been far worse.
