They were in Malaysian-flag inspired underwear.
The Australian Government sees the stripping down as inappropriate and ill-advised.
“You are in another nation, you have got to be careful of what you do,” Joyce told the media in Canberra, according to Asian Correspondent. “But I am sure, well I am hoping, the Malaysians will understand.”
He was further quoted as saying that there was no malice on the part of the nine who have been arrested. “Stupidity? Obviously,” he said. “Malice? No.”
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, likewise, does not agree with the Australian media reporting the men’s antics were a lapse of judgment. “It was clearly pre-meditated,” she told Nine Network. “They were wearing Budgy Smugglers bought in Australia.”
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Tuenbull has already said that he won’t intervene.
Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph, however, has run a front page headline, “Dear humourless Malaysia. Free the Budgie Nine.”
Budgie is a variation of budgerigar, a small Australian parrot, and used by the newspaper for the Budgy Smuggler-brand swimsuits that the nine Australian nationals were using when arrested.
Budgie Nine appears to be a play on “Bali Nine”, a reference to nine Australians held in Indonesia in 2005 for heroin trafficking.
The nine Australians, according to Malaysian police, would be probed for intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of the peace. They could be jailed, if convicted, for up to two years.
The men, aged between 25 and 29, drank beer from their shoes to celebrate fellow countryman Daniel Ricciardo’s victory during the Sepang leg of the F1 Grand Prix. The underwear that they were in had motifs of the Malaysian flag.
Australian media has reported that an adviser to senior Australian Cabinet Minister Christopher Pyne was among those held.
The nine would be defended by local lawyers Tania Scivetti and Shafee Abdullah.
Their four-day remand expires Thursday afternoon.
They are likely to be brought to Court on Thursday morning. It’s not known whether their remand would be extended, whether they would be charged, or deported.
The nine are being held in two police cells at the Sepang Police Station, near the F1 venue.
One senior Malaysian Minister has been quoted by Australian media as charging the action by the nine may have been “politically motivated” to “embarrass Malaysia.”
The Australians are Branden Stobbs, 29; Edward Leaney, 25; Nicholas Kelly, 27; Thomas Laslett, 28; Thomas Whitworth, 28; James Paver, 27; Adam Pasfield, 25; Timothy Yates, 29, son of a senior diplomat; and Pyne staffer Jack Walker, 26.