Neelofa wants to keep son out of the public eye

Compiled by JAROD LIM, TARRENCE TAN and R. ARAVINTHAN

CELEBRITY Neelofa has shared her distraught over what she felt was an invasion of privacy by people who posted photos of her firstborn on social media, Berita Harian reported.

Neelofa said that she and her husband PU Riz had decided early on to reveal their son’s face only “when the time is right”.

“As a mother, I hope the public can understand and respect our decision. It’s not about hiding him from the public,” she said.

She also said that she understood some of her fans’ eagerness to see her boy.

“Before his pictures went viral, we had taken him out for walks. We didn’t hide or cover his face,” she said.

Neelofa, 34, who gave birth last year, said, “Bilal is now a year and four months old. He is growing fast.”

The boy, she said, loves to hide and enjoys playing around.

“Each time I join my husband for prayers, Bilal will position himself beside his father,” she added.

Neelofa, who is due to give birth again soon, got married in March 2021.

> Residents around Temerloh made a beeline to a watermelon stall when word got out that the seller had to get rid of the fruit at low prices after a deal went wrong.

Sinar Harian reported that the watermelons were sold at RM10 for four.

Watermelon agent Mohd Shukri Abdul Mazak had been saddled with 24 tonnes of the fruit worth RM20,000, after a client from Melaka who had made an order for 10 tonnes, cancelled the order.

“He did not want to accept the watermelons, giving the excuse that the size was small,” he said.

Mohd Shukri acknowledged that he miscalculated the weight, which is why he ended up ordering 24 tonnes of the fruit.

“I also made the mistake of not collecting a deposit from the Melaka client. He was someone that I had dealt with many times,” he said.

On Tuesday, his brother posted on Facebook, asking people to buy the watermelons.

Mohd Shukri said he was surprised to see a crowd at his stall as early as 10am the next day.

“Thank you very much for the support,” he said.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.