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Siti Zailah slammed for exposing identity of minor daughter of murder victim in Utusan frontpage

Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff is seen during an interview on TV3. — Picture via Instagram/sitizailahmohdyusoff
Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff is seen during an interview on TV3. — Picture via Instagram/sitizailahmohdyusoff

KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 — The women’s wing of Pakatan Harapan (PH) has condemned Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff for her carelessness in exposing the identity of an underage child of a murder victim.

In a joint statement today, Wanita PH said Siti Zailah’s action has contravened the Children Act 2001, which was enacted to protect the welfare and safety of those involved.

“Her action of sharing the photos of her visit to the child, who is the daughter of a recent murder victim, has been made viral in the social and mainstream media until the name and photo of the child was reported on the Utusan Malaysia front page dated on August 5, 2020,” it said.

“We emphasise that as the key ministry that is the most important stakeholder on children’s issues in Malaysia, she should be more sensitive to the rights of these children and be a good example to the public and the media,” it added.

The statement was jointly signed by women’s wing chiefs from PKR, Parti Amanah Negara and DAP: Fuziah Salleh, Aiman Athirah and Chong Eng respectively.

Siti Zailah had visited the teenager yesterday and uploaded her visit on her Instagram account. The post was then deleted after it received a backlash.

However, a front-page report by Malay daily Utusan Malaysia today not only showed a photo of Siti Zailah and the teenager, who was wearing a half face mask, but also her full name.

Meanwhile, Malaysiakini reported Siti Zailah saying she only initiated the visit due to sympathy for the child and blamed the daily for not censoring the photo on its front page.

“The child also wore a mask. There was no full and real face. [It was] Utusan Malaysia who interviewed the family. Utusan Malaysia’s mistake is not to blur the picture,” she said as reported.

Earlier this week, a 41-year-old man had been remanded until tomorrow after he is believed to have strangled his wife to death with her headscarf in a car at Putra Perdana, Dengkil on July 29, just two days before Hari Raya Aidiladha.

Sepang District Police chief ACP Wan Kamarul Azran Wan Yusof said in a statement that the suspect then drove the car, with the body of his 40-year-old wife in it, to an area near a lake in Pinggiran Cyberjaya, where he placed her on the driver’s seat and left the engine on.

The police had also said earlier that the suspect had pretended to search for his wife with his teenage daughter after the alleged murder.

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