MCPF senior vice-chairman Lee Lam Thye noted that those who attempted to take their own lives were not criminals but were suffering from mental illnesses such as depression.

“The government should seriously consider abolishing Section 309 of the Penal Code (which criminalises suicide) since people who attempt suicide due to mental illness, must be given psychiatric treatment and rehabilitation.

“Criminalising depressed persons or those who are mentally sick is inhumane, unthinkable and unacceptable,” the Mental Health Promotion Advisory Council member said in a statement today.

Lee said that the government and insurance companies must play their role by ensuring that medical insurance coverage could be extended to include psychiatric disorders.

He added that barriers should be added to stop people from jumping off a building and they should also be considered as a feature in the design of new structures.

It was reported yesterday that a man had threatened to jump from the sixth floor of a shopping mall here before being talked out of it.