Mental illness NGO condemns singer's 'suicide' act

Aina (photo) was seen making stabbing motions to her chest, and her full-length white dress was eventually covered in "blood" stains.

The Mental Illness Awareness and Support Association (Miasa) said Aina had gone overboard in her alleged depiction of "suicide" as a performance concept.

"It is shocking. Are there no other creative ideas to the point that they had to do a performance based on suicide at the AJL stage?

"The TV station and production should have been well aware of restrictions against showing such acts," said the association in a statement on Facebook.

The group added that Aina's performance could be a breach of the "Guidelines For Media Reporting on Suicide" which forbids the explicit depiction of self-harming acts.

"For people with mental health issues, such scenes could trigger them to commit similar acts.

"To ensure that such matter will not be repeated, we appeal to the public to help us report it to the Communications and Multimedia Content Forum of Malaysia," the group further said.

Aina, meanwhile, denied Miasa's statement that she had chosen to highlight suicide as a concept for her show.

She clarified that the gimmick she chose — symbolic of a woman's heartbreak — was a continuity from the music video for her song Sumpah.

"My performance symbolises a woman's broken heart, she regrets her actions towards a person she loves.

"A 'bleeding' heart symbolises the extreme hurt felt by the woman. I hope all of you will be entertained and get what I am trying to show," she said on Instagram.

Aina's posting last night attracted thousands of comments, largely from fans praising her vocals and performance.