One father has received a torrential amount of negative backlash following the release of video which shows him partaking in a bungee jump while holding onto his toddler daughter.
Surprisingly, people did not take well to the video showing a child in danger.
The reaction online was fast and furious, as the dad was publicly dragged across social media and various news outlets.
The video shows the father stood holding his 2-year-old daughter atop a 65-yard-high bridge.
The video was recorded in Malaysia, specifically in a location known as Kuala Kuba Bharu according to the New York Post .
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The man in the video has been identified as one Redha Rozlan.
The reckless father is a Malaysian reality TV star who was the champion of the 2014 Malaysian Fear Factor competition.
In the video, Mr. Rozlan counts down from 3 and then falls backward off the bridge.
He does this while holding his daughter, Mecca Mikaela, who is barely wearing any safety equipment.
The bungee operator defended the father and his decision to let the toddler jump.
Mohd Shafiq Azmi has overseen over 200 people’s bungee jumping experiences, and attested to how safe the activity is to the Daily Mail .
As he said, “We adhere to safety requirements especially in the equipment used such as the safety ropes by engaging qualified services providers.”
“The equipment is inspected by our staff before someone does the jump, which is from a height of 200 feet. I understand that safety is a concern as this activity is the first of its kind in Malaysia.”
However, one human rights lawyer was not in agreement and disputed the legality of the father’s actions.
Human rights lawyer Andrew Khoo claimed that the video showed a clear breach of safety requirements.
And he suggested the father could be in for more than some disapproving clucks.
Khoo said that there were grounds to prosecute the father for “putting the child in a dangerous situation that may cause physical or emotional injury to them.”
Khoo was also not the only lawyer saying that there were grounds to take legal action.
Goh Siu Lin, a child rights lawyer, expressed her profound disbelief at the video, and highlighted how, even while being strapped in, this activity could be dangerous for a young child.
As she said, “Rope spring jump is an extreme sport and dangerous and there is a high likelihood of the motions in such an activity causing physical injury to her.”
“I have never heard of any child of that age being allowed to participate in such extreme sports.”
Rozlan took to Instagram to defend his actions and attempt to calm down the media firestorm.
Rozlan wrote in a post , some of which has been translated via the Daily Mail:
“Chill guys. [Mecca Mikaela was the one who wanted to do the jump with me. There was no forcing.] Don’t try with your kids if your kids not ready for this.”
People were not calmed by Rozlan’s call for them to “chill”, and kept calling him out.
Other people wrote:
“Ridiculous & nonsense! What are you trying to prove, asshat?”
“Yes he is a f*cking Idiot, she can jump when she is able to make her own decisions, call child protective services”.
However, some others didn’t see the harm, and proclaimed that people nowadays are too cautious.
Other comments in Rozlan’s defense came in the forms of:
“That’s a rope swing. Not a bungee jump. And if she’s strapped in so what? You guys need to worry about your own life before you start worrying about everyone else’s.”
Regardless, it is hard to imagine what Rozlan was thinking letting a toddler engage in such an activity.
I’m certain there will be a lot of people going, “Oh, well, back in my day we used to set fire to each others eyeballs and pour acid on our Lucky Charms, and it never did us any harm!”
While I agree that there are quite a few instances in today’s society where people take health and safety to overt extremes, this seems a little too far doesn’t it?
Thankfully, the young girl was fine, and ultimately sustained no injuries during the jump.
Despite her receiving seemingly no injuries, people are still up in arms about the video, and it’s hard to imagine that Rozlan will be allowed to forget the instance for a good while!
h/t: New York Post , Daily Mail
