Malaysia’s parliament handed three payments final week associated to decriminalizing suicide, marking a momentous shift in how the largely taboo subject is handled within the nation and making the Southeast Asian nation of over 33 million individuals the newest in a rising record of nations which can be amending suicide laws.
In March, Ghana’s parliament handed a invoice to decriminalize tried suicide. Guyana did the identical in November final yr, adopted by Pakistan in December. India and Singapore modified their legal guidelines in 2018 and 2020, respectively. These reforms come amid a worldwide push by psychological well being advocates and teachers to overturn punitive approaches to stopping suicides.
Nonetheless, trying suicide stays unlawful in at the least 19 nations—together with Nigeria, Bangladesh, Tanzania, and Myanmar—lots of which inherited their guidelines on the matter from British widespread legislation. However whereas the U.Ok. decriminalized suicide in 1961, it has taken a long time for some former colonies to do the identical. (In the meantime, Jordan simply criminalized trying suicide final yr, and sentenced a person to a month of imprisonment for the cost earlier this month.)
As Malaysia offers with rising suicide charges and concerningly excessive suicidal ideation amongst youngsters particularly, psychological well being advocates have lengthy criticized using Part 309 of the nation’s Penal Code, which carries as much as one yr in jail, and/or a positive, for these trying suicide. As lately as 2020, a Malaysian man was sentenced to 6 months in jail after a suicide try, sparking requires reform to what consultants say is, at its root, a psychological well being difficulty.
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“The existence of Part 309 was a provision from the nineteenth century as a result of it was seen on the time that criminalizing suicide could be an act of prevention,” Deputy Legislation Minister Ramkarpal Singh mentioned in Could. “However these days, medical therapy, and never prosecution, is one of the best ways to deal with the matter, primarily based on approaches by different nations.”
What’s unsuitable with criminalizing suicide?
In response to a 2022 examine by a crew of medical researchers throughout Asia, there was “no substantial proof” displaying that nations the place tried suicide is criminalized have decrease suicide charges in comparison with the worldwide common.
Kenny Lim, govt director of Befrienders Kuala Lumpur, which runs a 24-hour suicide helpline in Malaysia, tells TIME that the illegality of suicide seems to have carried out little to steer individuals away from it. As a substitute, it has solely added one other layer of complexity to the emotional misery skilled by these considering suicide.
“We’ve heard from individuals who say issues like, ‘With this legislation that criminalizes an individual who makes an attempt suicide, if I have been to do it, I’d make certain, I’ll die,’” he says. “It really instills concern into people who find themselves struggling, and it form of prevents individuals from reaching out for assist.”
One other examine in 2022 that focuses on Malaysia discovered that the criminalization of suicide makes an attempt could end in authorized processes taking priority over psychological well being look after suicide survivors, which may “considerably delay therapy.”
“Once you criminalize suicide, successfully, the individuals who try suicide, you might be discouraging them from coming ahead,” says Caryn Mei Hsien Chan, a Malaysia-based psychologist who research psychological well being and suicide danger. Chan tells TIME that as a substitute of assuaging suicidal ideas, criminalization sends a chilling message to people who find themselves struggling: “In case you survive suicide, you’ll really be thrown into jail probably.”
It may additionally have an effect on how caregivers deal with individuals, Chan says. “Generally medical medical doctors and healthcare professionals are reluctant to model [cases] as a suicide as a result of there’s so many connotations, there are authorized ramifications. … When that occurs, the affected person could not essentially be referred to providers that she or he requires.”
What comes after decriminalization?
Within the brief time period, Malaysia’s suicide charges may very well seem to go up—however that’s as a result of there could be extra individuals keen to report suicide makes an attempt, Ching Sin Siau, a researcher on the Nationwide College of Malaysia’s Centre for Neighborhood Well being Research, tells TIME.
Internationally, correct information on suicide and suicide makes an attempt are already troublesome to gather and underreported, largely attributable to social stigma, with many suicides as a substitute categorized as undetermined deaths or accidents. Siau is hopeful the decriminalization of suicide will result in extra correct ends in suicide information assortment.
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“We don’t need a suicide [attempt] to be masked as one thing else as a result of [people] are petrified of being criminalized. It actually hinders our skill to get the actual statistics on suicide,” Siau says. “So once we decriminalize suicide, we actually hope that [these] statistics will probably be extra forthcoming in order that we will intervene higher.”
However consultants say that decriminalizing suicide is only a first step towards constructing a extra complete framework for suicide prevention and rehabilitation. Chan and Siau each pointed to the necessity for accompanying insurance policies that might make getting assist extra accessible to these susceptible to suicide, comparable to requiring insurance coverage suppliers to incorporate remedy and counseling providers of their protection. Together with the decriminalization final week, Malaysia additionally launched new provisions that might enable disaster intervention officers to rescue people who’re trying suicide.
In the meantime, Lim from Befrienders Kuala Lumpur requires efforts to transcend the legality and take away the social stigma surrounding suicide. In Malaysia, for instance, suicide stays a taboo topic, he says, partially attributable to non secular causes (it’s forbidden in Islam).
“I believe by decriminalizing, we will encourage extra individuals to speak about it,” says Lim. “I believe the following step is… the attention or marketing campaign has to happen, to coach individuals about suicide.”
In case you or somebody you already know could also be experiencing a mental-health disaster or considering suicide, name or textual content 988. In emergencies, name 911, or search care from a neighborhood hospital or psychological well being supplier.
Contact us at letters@time.com.