Speaking at an online forum organised by the national coalition for mental wellbeing (NCMW) today, M Ramachelvam said a moratorium on Section 309 of the Penal Code, which criminalises suicide, would be “especially important” amid the Covid-19 pandemic, which has seen an increase in the number of suicides recorded.
Noting that repealing Section 309 may take time as it would have to go through the Dewan Rakyat, Dewan Negara and then be signed off by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the lawyer pointed out that imposing a moratorium is an executive decision which need not go through Parliament.
“It’s not politically sensitive and the government will not lose anything by coming up with a moratorium,” said Ramachelvam, who co-chairs the Bar Council’s law reform & special areas committee.
“If at all, they will get kudos for it,” he said.
He also called on the government to use the moratorium period to utilise provisions under Section 10 and 11 of the Mental Health Act 2001, which empowers the police, social welfare officers and the family to bring a person who attempts suicide for psychiatric evaluation.
In a written parliamentary reply last December, the Prime Minister’s Department said the attorney-general’s chambers (AGC) is considering sending those who have attempted suicide to seek therapy at medical facilities instead of treating them as criminals.
It also said the AGC was studying laws related to suicide attempts.
Ramachelvam, a member of NCMW’s decriminalisation focus group, added that the coalition hopes the government will “expeditiously table” the relevant legislation in Parliament to decriminalise suicide and to withdraw all pending charges under Section 309 of the Penal Code.
Stressing that studies have shown that criminalising suicide has had no effect on the suicide rate, Ramachelvam said other countries had not recorded any significant increase or decrease in suicides after they had ceased to treat it as a crime.
NCMW is an initiative started by Rotary Malaysia and other NGOs last August aimed at providing sustainable solutions to the long-term mental health issues surrounding Covid-19.
Last week, Criminal Investigation Department director Abd Jalil Hassan said the nation recorded 468 suicide cases from January to May – an average of three suicide cases every day.
He said there were 631 recorded suicide cases in 2020, and 609 in 2019.
Meanwhile, Befrienders KL chairman Justin Victor said research has shown that for every person who dies due to suicide, there are at least 20 others who have attempted it.
“Whenever we see a rise in the number of suicides, behind the scenes, we have a rise in the number of people attempting to end their lives,” he told the forum.
Befrienders KL operates a 24-hour helpline for people with emotional problems and who have suicidal thoughts.
In a recent interview with FMT, its publicity director Ardy Ayadali told FMT that its helpline received 10,412 calls from people who were distressed and needed emotional support from March to May this year – a 50% increase from the 6,858 calls it logged during the same period last year.