I don't think the photographers were wrong in snapping pictures of the Iranian man who decided to take his own life. Let us face it: the man wanted to draw attention to his plight - he even prepared a five-page letter and threw it to the journalists.

The police are now investigating his allegations and even the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has come out to take care of his medical expenses. For what it is worth, he has achieved his objective.

The occurrence of suicides is frequent. None of them are news worthy. Even if they are reported, readers do not even take a second glance.

The person who took the photograph and the editor who chose to publish the photograph has brought real life news into the guts of every Malaysian reader who opened the newspaper that fateful morning.

If it was not a gut reaction of disgust, it sure would have made you think what it is like to self-immolate and die nine hours later. Does that not make you think about the circumstances that can drive a person to take his life in such a manner?

I recall that in the early seventies, the picture of a Buddhist monk who set himself abalze and the picture of an army officer who blew the head of a captured Vietcong was carried in Life magazine. Those pictures are today clearly etched in my mind, reminding me of the horrors of war.

Perhaps your readers should face up to the fact that this is life. I am of the view that more explicit photographs of accident victims should be shown in the papers to remind those wanna be racers that 'speed kills'.