Indonesia, the archipelago country in Southeast Asia, is a paradise to many people.
Known for its vast area that occupies both land and sea, the country has lots of geographic and climate advantages its nature has to offer.
Ria Ricis is an Indonesian YouTuber, and this time, she is facing huge backlash for filming herself taking her daughter, Moana, on a jet ski.
With more than 30 million subscribers on YouTube, Ricis is one of the most famous content creators in Indonesia. While most of her recent videos are about how she raises her daughter, on January 1, she posted a YouTube video about how she, her husband, Teuku Ryan, and Moana, rode a jet skit.
The YouTuber shared a clip of the ride on Instagram on January 2, and it didn't take long until the video surpassed 1 million views.
"Moana loves riding a jet ski," she said.
At first, nothing much to debate, until it's seen that Moana was not wearing a life jacket.
While Moana could be seen wearing a personal flotation device in some of the photoshoots and videos, the child was not wearing one in Ricis' Instagram post.
It didn't take long until netizens commented about it, as others flocked in to express their concerns.
Realizing the mistake, Ricis deleted the Instagram post.
But it was too late for her, because other users, particularly on Twitter, have reuploaded it for millions more to see. In all, negative comments kept pouring in.
"At least wear a life jacket. A child is the most valuable asset you have in the world. What if you fall down and get hit by a jetski fan?" said one commenter.
"I think people who ride motorbikes with their children are the most stupid. This is a jet ski, my goodness," said another.
While most of the comments were made to mock and blast the YouTuber, others, especially Ricis' fans, think that people shouldn't make judgements about Ricis' parenting, or how she and her husband decide to parent Moana.
"Leave them alone. They are entitled to do as they wish. I wish them well," said one user.
A jet ski is sometimes called a personal watercraft (PWC), or a water scooter.
The most popular type of jet skis, is the "sit down" type, where riders can ride the vehicle while sitting down. As oppose the the "stand-up" type, which is usually a single-sitter, and mostly used for racing and competition, the sit down type is commonly used for recreation.
While jet skis are small and fast, they are relatively safe due to not using any external propellers. What this means, jet skis are generally safer than motorboats.
The thing is, jet skis are water vehicles, and anyone involved in water activities at the sea should wear lifejackets. And not just that, because jet skis also pose other hazards. For example, besides the obvious hazards of collisions and mechanical failures, jet skis also pose risks of orifice injuries, which can occur from falling in the water at high speed, or when the rider is directly exposed to the output end of the pump jet.
There also chances of being sucked into the intake, while this is rare.
Ria Ricis isn't the first Influencer parents to have previously come under fire for sharing videos of themselves and their children taking part in sports, and she is likely not to the the last one.
It's worth noting, that Ricis is a controversial YouTuber, and that the self-made internet celebrity has been mocked in the past for various other reasons.
One of the most notable, would be the videos she made when her father past away.
At that time, she seemingly took her father's death as an advantage to earn through her YouTube channel. On June 6, 2021, or two days after her father died, Ricis posted five videos, one after another, in quick succession, all of which are related to her father's passing.
It's also worth noting that after this jet ski controversy, Ricis made yet another headline, when she brought Moana with her on an all-terrain vehicle (ATV).
