First pics: where Budgie Nine are held

NINE Australians arrested in Malaysia for stripping down to their budgie smugglers emblazoned with the country’s flag will most likely face a Kuala Lumpur court on Thursday.

Authorities in Malaysia are yet to declare if the men, dubbed the Budgie Nine, will face charges and if so what charges they would likely face.

The fact that the men’s swimmers were stamped with the Malaysian flag has caused a storm in the nationalistic and majority Muslim nation amid claims the men embarrassed the country hosting them.

Ironically the Sepang District police headquarters, close to the GP circuit where their actions provoked outrage is currently emblazoned with dozens of Malaysian flags, hanging along the fence line at five metres apart and flying from dozens of flag poles.

The station recently won a police beautification contest, hence the large number of flying flags, known as the Jalur Gemilang.

Malaysian prosecutors are meeting on Wednesday morning local time to discuss whether the boisterous group will be charged following the incident, which occurred at Australian Daniel Ricciardo’s win in Sepang on Sunday.

The group have been held in two separate cells at the Sepang District police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur since their arrest at the Grand Prix celebrations on Sunday.

It is understood that the group was visited yesterday by representatives from the Australian High Commission in Malaysia and also by their local lawyer Tania Scivetti.

The men are being investigated under the Penal Code for intentional insult with intent provoke a breach of the peace but local legal opinion is divided over whether they could also be charged with an offence related to desecrating the national emblem, being the flag.

Lawyers say there is no specific offence covering what the men did by wearing the flag on their underwear as opposed to burning it in protest.

Under the Malaysian legal system the men are being held and investigated by police who will submit a report to the Attorney-General who will decide the charges if any.

It is expected the nine will face court tomorrow, where their detention could be extended for a further period to allow more investigation or they could be charged, sentenced to time served and deported immediately.

The deputy head of Selangor district police, Superintendent Rusdi Mohd Isa, told AAP on Wednesday that prosecutors were holding a morning meeting to decide whether to charge the group.

“They have not decided whether to charge,” Supt Rusdi said.

NO BAILOUTS FOR BUDGIE NINE

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop warned the government was unable to intervene to help the fate of the Australians.

Ms Bishop told the Nine Network the incident was “clearly premeditated”, given the men had bought the budgie smugglers in Australia.

She said the men were receiving consular support but reiterated the government couldn’t interfere in legal proceedings.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull urged Australians to “respect the laws of the country” following the incident.

“When Australians are overseas they should always be careful of and respect the laws of the country in which they are in,” Mr Turnbull told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the group cannot be excused for “boisterous behaviour”.

An adviser to the Minister for Defence Industry Christopher Pyne is one of nine Australians arrested on Sunday after they stripped down to their underwear as Australian Daniel Ricciardo won the Sepang Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Jack Walker, defence innovation adviser to Mr Pyne, was in the group of men seen sporting Malaysian flag budgie smugglers as Australian Daniel Ricciardo won the Sepang Formula 1 Grand Prix.

In custody alongside Mr Walker are: Edward Leaney, Nicholas Kelly, Thomas Laslett, Thomas Whitforth, Brendan Stobs, Timothy Yates, James Paver and Adam Pasfield.

The men are believed to be friends from their time at Sydney University and the exclusive Palm Beach Surf Life Saving Club. Mr Walker is a staffer for federal cabinet minister Christopher Pyne.

Mr Leaney, previously a barman at the Arthouse Hotel in Sydney’s CBD, works as general manager for his family’s manufacturing firm Focus Uniforms.

A friend, who asked not to be named, said of Mr Leaney: “He’s a party boy and great fun — he wouldn’t have set out to offend anyone.”

Mr Laslett is a senior project engineer on the Sydney Light Rail Project. Last night a member of his family said they and the families of the other young men had agreed with the Department of Foreign Affairs that they would not comment until the matter had been resolved.

One of Mr Laslett’s Sydney friends said that he was a bright young engineer.

“He is a really nice bloke too, and very clever,” she said. “It’s the sort of thing any of our mates might do, probably not in a Muslim country though.”