Indonesian YouTuber under fire for video of infant daughter on a jet ski with no life jacket
- Ria Ricis recently posted a clip online showing her husband holding their daughter in one hand while steering a personal watercraft with the other
- It sparked a debate about the child’s safety and how far the Indonesian YouTuber, who has 30.8 million subscribers, would go for views
Ria Ricis, who has 30.8 million subscribers on her YouTube channel Ricis Official, typically posts content about raising her daughter Moana.
On January 1, she posted a YouTube video about a jet ski excursion she took with her daughter and husband, Teuku Ryan. In the YouTube clips, Moana is wearing a life jacket, but in an additional video Ricis posted to her Instagram account, Ryan holds Moana in one hand while steering the jet ski with another. The video received more than 1 million views.
The YouTuber shared a clip of the ride on Instagram on January 2, with a caption in Indonesian that said “Moana loves it on a jet ski”.
While Moana could be seen wearing a life jacket in some clips of the jet ski ride in the YouTuber’s vlog, the child was not wearing one in Rici’s Instagram post.
Many comments under the post, which were written in Indonesian but were translated through the app, expressed concern over the YouTuber’s actions.
Clips of Rici’s Instagram video were reuploaded by other users on Twitter, where they went viral, receiving millions of views and attracting more negative attention from commenters who wrote predominantly in Indonesian.
“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 jet ski fan?” said one commenter.
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“I think people who ride motorbikes with their children are the most stupid. This is a jet ski, my goodness,” said another user.
Other users said they did not think people should make judgments about the way other people decide to parent their children.
“Leave them alone. They are entitled to do as they wish. I wish them well,” wrote one Twitter user in English.
According to multiple personal watercraft websites, there are no laws preventing a parent from taking their child on a jet ski, but most manufacturer guidelines on jet skis recommend that all passengers should be able to reach the floor of the vehicle’s footwells securely with both feet.
Ria Ricis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
