By SCMP’s Asia desk

Copyright scmp

A lawmaker representing a Malaysian tourist town on the island of Borneo has come under fire after a viral video labelled it “Asia’s dirtiest town”, prompting condemnation from the public and fellow politicians.
The one-minute clip shows British travel vlogger Ben Frier, who goes by the handle Backpacker Ben, strolling around Semporna, a coastal town in Sabah that serves as a gateway to popular tourist islands like Sipadan and Mabul.
Panning around, he shows rubbish clogging the waters surrounding a jetty where thousands of tourists board boats to the islands each year.
“If only you can smell what I’m smelling. It’s exactly how you can imagine,” he says. “Oh man, what a place. Top five dirtiest place I’ve ever been.”

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Holding up a plastic bottle, he adds: “Do you know what’s funny? Myself and Cat [his partner] have been walking around with this empty bottle for about an hour now because we can’t litter. We just can’t do it – but I mean, is there much point? Just leave it on the ground like everyone else?”
Malaysians expressed their embarrassment below his post.
“I was thinking of taking a trip to Semporna but once I saw this video, hmmm, I immediately cancelled it,” one posted. “It’s embarrassing to see that even tourists don’t throw their trash indiscriminately. It would be great if this went viral.”
Some blamed the problem on undocumented migrants, singling out Indonesians and Filipinos as the main culprits. “You went to the place where most illegal immigrants live in Malaysia, along with their behaviours and way of life, then you insulted the whole country,” one said with a laugh-crying emoji.
Minister of Housing and Local Government Nga Kor Ming publicly rebuked Semporna MP Mohd Shafie Apdal over the video, characterising it as a dereliction of duty.
“I also watched that TikTok video. The responsibility of maintaining the city’s image does not lie solely with the federal government but also with the local representatives,” he said when questioned about the video at a press conference on Wednesday, the Malay Mail newspaper reported.
“Next year is Visit Malaysia 2026, so with all due respect, I would like to ask the Semporna MP to be diligent in going down to the field. It is understood that he has been there for over 30 years, and it is his responsibility to monitor the town’s cleanliness.”

Shafie, a former Sabah chief minister who has been the Semporna MP since 1995, fired back a day later, claiming that Semporna was among the cleanest towns when his party was in power.
“I often went to the ground to monitor Semporna. In fact, during Warisan’s administration in Sabah, Semporna was one of the cleanest,” the Warisan party president said at a press conference on Thursday, the Borneo Post newspaper reported.
Questioning Nga’s understanding of waste management, he said it fell under the jurisdiction of local authorities.
“I want to ask Nga as an MP and also a minister, is it his responsibility to ensure the cleanliness of roads and drains?” Shafie said. “Right now, there is a district officer and a district council in Semporna. They are the ones responsible because the government pays salaries to the workers. Surely it’s not my job to go around picking up trash.”
Bianus Kontong, a former Semporna district officer, said that under the Warisan administration, there was a cleanliness initiative called “Sabah Bebas Sampah”, or Trash-free Sabah, that yielded swift and tangible results.
“We had a team carry out cleaning after advocacy. It was completed within two months. We also ran awareness campaigns. Those who littered had to wear a vest that said ‘Saya Monyet’ [‘I’m a monkey’] while picking up trash, or they were fined 50 ringgit (US$12),” he said.