MCA Youth supports decriminalising suicide attempts: Govt’s proposal indicates Malaysia’s progress in tackling mental health issues




MCA Youth supports the proposal by the government to repeal Section 39 of the Penal Code to decriminalise suicide attempt as relayed by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Ramkarpal Singh in the Dewan Rakyat on 22 March 2023 as it reflects institutional reforms and that Malaysia is dropping another colonial vestige of the past.

More importantly, refraining from punishing individuals who failed in their suicide attempt indicates Malaysia is steering towards a more humane and compassionate society - one which aims to address and treat rather than laugh at mental health issues. Individuals in such circumstances need help, not punishment.

We have to move beyond sentencing people who require counselling or just need a friend to talk to as, law breakers. Logically speaking, will they even recover behind bars as they would be residing with  hardened criminals for 24/7? Would prison even be safe for them?

Coupled with the stigmatisation attached to an ex-convict and to the family members, there are no guarantees that the individual would not reattempt suicide once released.

It is plain ignorance to assume that incarcerating people who attempted suicide will diminish such tendencies or completely wipe out the depression or the inability to articulate coherently that caused them to consider ending their life in the first place.

In Malaysia, police recorded 638 suicides in the first seven months of 2021, a 143% increase from the 262 cases of the year before (Free Malaysia Today, 9 July 2022).

Does our prison system even have the facilities or rehabilitation programmes for people jailed for their unsuccessful suicide bid? There are also instances of inmates convicted of other offences who contemplated taking their own life after they were locked up.

Malaysia’s law criminalising suicide attempt was copied from the British, but the former colonialists themselves have amended their laws. The Suicide Act 1961, an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom decriminalised the act of suicide in England and Wales so that those who survived a suicide attempt would no longer be prosecuted.

As alerted in the Dewan Rakyat, suicide attempts should be handled as a public health issue and not as a criminal offence since studies show that individuals suffering from depression are 20 times more at risk of suicidal behavior and death due to suicide. It is also in line with the International Classification of Diseases and the World Health Organization, which classifies suicide attempts as a disease.

-MCA Online-