Govt: Depression, financial woes main causes of suicide
PARLIAMENT | The police recorded 2,426 suicides between Jan 1, 2018, and July 31, 2021, or approximately 1.86 cases daily, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
According to the government, the main motive for suicide was depression (27.99 percent), followed by financial problems (15.87 percent).
Although Selangor, Johor and Penang had the highest number of suicides during the period, when the population is taken into...
PARLIAMENT | The police recorded 2,426 suicides between Jan 1, 2018, and July 31, 2021, or approximately 1.86 cases daily, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.
According to the government, the main motive for suicide was depression (27.99 percent), followed by financial problems (15.87 percent).
Although Selangor, Johor and Penang had the highest number of suicides during the period, when the population is taken into account, Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Negeri Sembilan had the highest cases.
The majority (1,358) of those who committed suicide were in the 19 to 40 age group.
There were also higher incidents of suicide among the Chinese, followed by Indians and Malays.
The government said this in a written reply to Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh, who sought details on suicide for each state according to age, gender, ethnicity and motive for the past five years.
The written reply by the government only contained data from 2018 onwards and did not detail whether there were changes in trends since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic last year.
Previously, the police had noted higher cases of suicide during the first five months of the year.
This had prompted calls by lawmakers such as Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (Harapan-Pandan), Lim Kit Siang (Harapan-Iskandar Puteri) and Teresa Kok (Harapan-Seputeh) and the Health Ministry to decriminalise suicide.
The Attorney-General's Chambers is currently considering this call.
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