Rohani: Breastfeeding's good but no selfies, please

It is inappropriate for netizens to upload breastfeeding selfie onto Facebook because it will eventually invite online criticism, said Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim.

She added that netizen have to be mindful of decency and the values of the community.

A netizen who uploads such controversial photograph onto the internet would find herself ending up as a victim although it was meant for private consumption, she said at a press conference in Cyberjaya today.

She was responding to a brestfeeding selfie taken in a car that went viral and has widely been criticised in the Facebook since Monday.

“The uploading of the breastfeeding selfie was meant for private consumption. We need to be very careful...”

Rohani, however, said her ministry encourages breastfeeding as the best method for babies, which would also help resolve the rising cost of living.

"Breastfeeding is good," she said, adding the ministry was not against the mother who breastfed her child in a public area.

On another matter, Rohani said her ministry has tried to intervene in the alleged abuse case of a grandmother by her granddaugther.

The ministry tried to arrange counselling for the family, who had turned down the offer, claiming this was a family matter, she said.

She, however, did not see the incident as a “joke” as claimed by the family.

"Even if they took it as a joke, don't do this to the grandmother. We wanted to intervene, they just refused. We want to help, they just won't let us," she said.

Whipping of kids to be stopped

It was reported that the grandmother who was allegedly being beaten claimed that the incident and the video recording of it were merely a joke.

Following a report by her granddaughter, she said she did not want the investigation to be continued.

The video circulated on social media on Jan 3 depicted an elderly Indian woman who was squatting on the ground being hit by a younger woman several times.

The elderly woman then tossed a bowl of water at the younger woman who then pushed her to the ground and started hitting her with hands before picking up a cloth belt and striking her with it.

Meanwhile, Rohani said the Parliament will debate in March the second reading of the Child (Amendment) Bill 2015 which seeks to abolish a sentence of whipping imposed by the courts on children.

She clarified that the government would only propose the abolishment of whipping and not canning as some have misunderstood.

The ministry will also recommend that child offenders undergo community service as a form of their rehabilitation, she said. -Mkini