SUICIDE IN MALAYSIA
GEORGE TOWN: A female student was supposed to take her PT3 examination but found dead by suicide due to exam stress by jumping from her 11th floor unit.
This is one of the suicide cases happened in Malaysia in October 2018. Suicides are becoming a concern in Malaysia as the suicide rates have increased by 60% over the past 45 years (Sinnah, Maniam, Oei & Subramaniam, 2014). According to World Population Review (2018), the suicide rate in Malaysia is ranked 129th among all the countries around the world, which is 5.8 suicides per one hundred thousand people. Although the suicide rate in Malaysia in 2018 only increase 0.4 suicides per one hundred thousand people compared to 2010 which are 5.4 suicides per one thousand people, it does not mean that we can ignore this issue but think about the reasons of causing suicides and finding resolutions (The Statistics Portal, 2018).
According to professor T Maniam, who is a consultant psychiatrist in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, depression is the number one cause of suicide (Ling, 2017a). In Malaysia, there are various factors of causing depression such as financial problems, relationship problems and academic problems (Nurul, Nuru, Aliah, Nur and Afifah, 2014). Financial problem is the main concern where people are stress because of unable to afford basic necessities such as accommodation and food. There is no doubt that the living cost in Malaysia is increasing anually due to inflation. From 2012 onwards, the inflation rate shows a positive figure, indicating an increase in price (The Statistics Portal, 2018). This brings bigger impact on lower income group as their income does not increase aligned with inflation. Some people choose to borrow money from loan sharks and get even more depressed when their lives are threatened because they are unable to pay back the principal on the maturity date. Therefore, some of them choose to suicide to evade reality and selfishly leave these problems to their loved ones.
Besides, there are also many suicides caused by relationship problem. Relationship problem is the issue that people depress when they cannot deal with their relationship properly. There was a news back in 2017 that a 17-year-old tennis player who had a bright future committed suicide by hanging himself in his bedroom because he was unable to accept the fact that his girlfriend broke up with him (Britten, 2017). It shows that couples nowadays are too immature to manage their relationships and get depressed easily when they face obstacles in their relationships instead of finding solutions to their problems.
Apart from that, the academic problem is a common reason that causes a person to suicide in Malaysia. Giving more homework is a stereotype of Malaysia’s education system. They believe that doing more homework can help one to understand comprehensively (Chew, Teong & Ishak, 2012). For instance, 63% of students in Malaysia spend more than 45 minutes just on Science homework per week while 11% of them spend more than 3 hours (keithRozario, 2012). That is a lot of hours spent just on one subject considering that there are many more homework to be accomplished from other subjects. They even have to study until late night in order to catch up the syllabus taught in the school. This causes them to feel depressed when they are facing problems in their studies or getting an average result which falls below the standard set by their parents. Hence, some of them probably cannot handle the stress anymore and suicide to release all their burdens.
There are ways to prevent suicide from happening and one of them is direct talks. Most suicidal people are introvert and they find it difficult to express their problems to other person and choose to keep inside themselves. It is the best way to ask them directly if you suspect anyone with suicidal thoughts (Lifeline, 2016). We as their loved ones must always show our cares towards them. When we ask them directly, they may feel safe to express all their problems to us. After expressing the problems, we must give our best to help them and more important not to leave them alone. Beside, a suicidal person can also ask for help from counsellors. Counsellors are professional in handling those situations and providing effective advice. Most important is that a suicidal person must express their thoughts rather than keeping them.
Another way of preventing suicide from happening is having suicide prevention campaign. There are many hotlines regarding suicide prevention such as Befrienders and Lifeline Association in Malaysia (Suicide.org, 2018). Having these hotlines are not enough to prevent suicide because these hotlines are only be used when people have suicidal thoughts. Authorities should organize campaigns to raise awareness to the societies so that people know what to do when they are depressed. World Health Organisation Division of Mental Health director Dr Sekhar Saxena is positive that suicide can be combated through more education and awareness programmes (Ling, 2017b). Therefore, raising awareness through campaigns will effectively decrease the rate of suicide in Malaysia.
In conclusion, suicide is not something that can be taken lightly. It is a very serious problem and it may affect other people close to the victims such as their family and loved ones. There are many reasons that cause people in Malaysia to attempt suicide which everyone is responsible to seek for solutions. Not only that, there are preventions that people and authorities can do to prevent suicide from happening such as talking directly to the victim and having campaigns. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my lecturer, Dr Izwyn binti Zulkapri for giving us this chance to study and find out what is actually happening in the societies in Malaysia. Last but not least, I wish that every Malaysian can perceive that suicide is not a rational way to solve a problem because it will affect people around us and hope that the suicide rate in Malaysia can be lowered to a decent value in the future.
References
Britten, N. (2017). Gifted teenager kills himself after breaking up with girlfriend. The Telegraph. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2157885/Gifted-teenager-Matthew-Barnes-kills-himself-after-breaking-up-with-girlfriend.html
Chew, F.P., Teong, M.H., & Ishak, Z. (2012). School Homework and its Relationship with S Student Academic Achievement in Malaysia. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Educational and Pedagogical Sciences. Retrieved from
keithRozario. (2012). Science in Malaysia : Myth #1 Homework. Retrieved from https://www.keithrozario.com/2012/12/science-malaysia-homework-myth.html
Lifeline. (2016). Preventing Suicide. Retrieved from
https://www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/topics/preventing-suicide
Ling. (2017). Malaysia’s suicide rate is 6-8:100,000. New Sarawak Tribune. Retrieved from
https://www.newsarawaktribune.com.my/news/malaysias-suicide-rate-is-6-8100000/
Nurul, A. A., Nuru, H.M., Aliah A. S.B., Nur, F. I. and Afifah, Y. (2014). Reasons for committing suicide in Malaysia society. Department of Psychology International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/8358369/Reasons_for_committing_suicide_in_Malaysia_society
Sinniah, A, Maniam, T, Oei, T.P. & Subramaniam, P. (2014). Suicide Attempts in Malaysia from the Year 1969 to 2011. Hindawi Publishing Corporation e Scientific World Journal. Retrieved from https://researchonline.jcu.edu.au/38475/1/AishavryaManiamOe%26%20Pi%20suicide%20attempts%20review%20SciWJ.pdf
Suicide.org. (2018). Malaysia Suicide Hotlines. Retrieved from
http://www.suicide.org/hotlines/international/malaysia-suicide-hotlines.html
Tan, S.C. (2018). Student found dead on day of PT3 exam. The Star Online. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/10/02/student-found-dead-on-day-of-pt3-exam/
The Statistical Portal. (2018). Malaysia: Inflation rate from 2012 to 2022 (compared to the previous year). Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/319033/inflation-rate-in-malaysia/
The Statistical Portal. (2018). Malaysia: Crude suicide rate in Malaysia in 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 (per 100,000 inhabitants). Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/701895/malaysia-crude-suicide-rate/
World Population Review (2018). Suicide rate by country 2018. Retrieved from http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/suicide-rate-by-country/