Decriminalise suicide and registry will be revived, says deputy minister
Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye says those who are in need of help should not be punished again.
KUALA LUMPUR: Putrajaya aims to revive the National Suicide Registry of Malaysia (NSRM) next year, but only if suicide is decriminalised, the health ministry told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said decriminalising suicide would be the first step to reviving the registry, adding that failure to do so would see an under-reporting of suicide.
This, he said, would cause the registry to be incomplete.
“We call for Sections 305, 306 and 309 (of the Penal Code) to be reviewed,” he said, referring to laws relating to attempted suicide.
“We don’t want those who are in need of help to be punished again. If all goes well, we aim to launch the registry by 2020.”
He was responding to Kelvin Yii (PH-Bandar Kuching) who asked whether the government intends to revive the NRSM.
The NSRM was set up in 2007 to provide public access to data on suicides in the country. However, its official website was taken down in 2009 after just two published reports.
Lee earlier told the Dewan Rakyat that 356 suicides were recorded between 2014 and June this year.
Of these 147 involved Chinese, followed by Indians (76), Malays (47) and those of other races (17).
A total of 69 cases involved non-Malaysians.
Lee also said the rate of suicide among teenagers aged 13 to 17 increased to 10% in 2017 compared to 7.9% in 2012.
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He was responding to RSN Rayer (PH-Jelutong) who asked what measures would be taken by the ministry to reduce the number of suicide cases in the country.