KUALA LUMPUR – Emotional pressure and financial difficulties are the highest motivations for the recent spate of suicide cases in the country, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob revealed.
He said Malaysia recorded a total of 2,426 suicide cases over the period from 2018 until July 31 this year.
Of these, 679 cases involved emotional stress and 385 were related to financial problems, he pointed out. Senile individuals were the least likely to commit suicide with only four cases in that period.
He said this in his parliamentary response to Fuziah Salleh (Kuantan-PKR), who asked for the statistics on suicide cases in the country.
Detailing the breakdown according to states, he said Selangor had the most suicide cases with 442, followed by Johor (375 cases), Penang (270), Sabah (145), Negri Sembilan (137), Pahang (122), Kedah (111), Melaka (74), Kelantan (61), Terengganu (36) and Perlis (4).
From the aspect of age, Ismail Sabri said 1,358 cases involved people between 19 and 40 years old, and 960 involved those above the age of 41. Men accounted for 2,030 cases and women, 396 cases.
“For cases based on race, Chinese people accounted for 807 cases, followed by Indians (462 cases) and Malays (362), while the races of the remaining 19 cases could not be ascertained,” he said.
It was reported on July 1 that a total of 1,099 suicides were recorded in Malaysia from January last year – shortly after Covid-19 hit the country – until the end of May this year.
In a separate parliamentary reply to Noorita Sual (Tenom-DAP) on the decriminalisation of suicide and statistics related to the matter, Ismail Sabri said the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) is reviewing the laws on suicide abetment and attempt due to the rising number of incidents since 2015.
Ismail Sabri said that some 175 cases of attempted suicide were charged between January and June.
Between 2018 and June this year, 902 cases were charged – 261 of which were in 2018, 243 in 2019, and 223 last year.
On Wednesday, Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang (Kanowit-GPS), who is also deputy health minister, had told the Dewan Rakyat that amendments to decriminalise suicide or suicide attempts will be tabled in Parliament after they are studied by the AGC.
He said cabinet members have come to an understanding over the matter, in his reply to a supplementary question by Teo Nie Ching (Kulai-PH) during question time. – The Vibes, September 17, 2021
