Mohamad Sabu said that when he was growing up, he never heard of Malay-Muslims taking their own lives.

“Now, Malay Muslims are committing suicide and they could potentially surpass the other races (in terms of suicide rates),” the Kota Raja MP said when debating the prime minister’s speech on the National Recovery Plan.

However, he did not give the numbers of Malay-Muslims committing suicide or any other statistic. Suicide is prohibited in Islam.

“This shows that people are panicking. Yet, there are those who seek power and implement an Emergency even though it has only brought about failure.”

Mohamad, better known as Mat Sabu, said people were suffering and some were “losing their minds” and it was something that should not be taken lightly.

Last month, it was reported that there was an average of four suicide cases every day for the first three months of the year, with 336 cases reported to police.

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the number for the three months was more than half of what was reported throughout 2020.

Mat Sabu, a former defence minister, also hit out at the perceived immunity that ministers in the country seem to enjoy, noting that UK health secretary Matt Hancock resigned for breaching social distancing rules.

“But here, you mention Spanish fly, nothing happens,” he said referring to health minister Dr Adham Baba’s recent gaffe.

“Because in Malaysia, minister’s here can do anything and the people suffer.”