An influencer was filmed having her boyfriend splash holy water from a Hindu temple on her bum, sparking outrage in Indonesia.
Czech couple Sabina Dolezalova and Zdenek Slouka filmed the clip at a temple in the town of Ubud, on the Indonesian island of Bali, after which Dolezalova posted it to social media.
Upon posting the video, the couple quickly received masses of criticism from people living in the country, who were deeply offended by their actions.
You can take a look at the video below:
In the video, Dolezalova and Slouka can be seen standing next to each other in front of a shrine of holy water in the Bali temple, before Slouka puts his hand under the running water.
His influencer girlfriend then bends over and lifts up her skirt, before Slouka splashes the holy water on to her bum as she screams at how cold it is.
Despite the couple’s delight in the video regarding their stunt, they have since caused outrage in the Southeast Asian nation where the spring water is used for ritual purification.
According to The Guardian, authorities in Bali are planning to introduce new rules for tourists visiting its many sacred temples after a rise in disrespectful behaviour at the sites – including people posing in bikinis and climbing over Hindu structures.
Bali deputy governor Tjokorda Oka Artha Sukawati, known as Cok Ace, said at a regional council meeting towards the end of last year:
This is the government’s attempt to maintain the Pura [temples]. The temples need to be preserved since they are the spirits of Bali’s cultures and customs.
He went on to say that the authorities would be re-evaluating the system that allows tourists to visit temples unaccompanied, after a decline in the ‘quality of tourists’.
The couple’s behaviour was deemed by locals to be yet another example of the disrespect shown by tourists towards the temples, with local designer Niluh Djelantik calling for Bali to become more ‘selective’ in the tourists who visit the destination after watching the clip.
Dolezalova and Slouka have since issued an apology video for their actions, saying they are ‘so truly sorry’ for what they did and that they didn’t realise it was a holy temple or that they were using holy water.
Slouka explained:
Hey, we are so sorry about the video from yesterday. We dishonoured the holy temple and holy water in Ubud and we didn’t know it, so we are so sorry about what happened.
While his girlfriend Dolezalova continued the apology, saying they ‘really didn’t want to do anything bad’, adding: ‘We hope you are going to forgive us and now we are just finding what we can do to fix it’.
It’s not known if the video was reported to the authorities or if action has been taken against the couple.
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).