Last week on the 11th of May, I was honoured and privileged to officiate a hotline for suicide prevention in Seberang Jaya headed by Dr Florence Sinniah who is a board member of the Penang Women’s Development Corporation (PWDC) is also the President for the Pertubuhan Kebajikan Sneham Malaysia which serves as a platform to create public awareness on suicide prevention and to provide counselling and emotional support for those who are depressed or who are having suicidal thoughts with Tamil as part of the lingua franca for counselling.
Sneham, which is set up in the Batu Kawan Parliamentary Constituency renders services through a toll-free helpline at 1800 22 5757 and focuses on those suffering from mental health or who have suicidal thoughts who wish to communicate in Tamil primarily and also in Bahasa Malaysia and English from 4pm to 8pm everyday. Alternatively Befrienders, which has been offering counselling services for decades now, is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week at 03-79568145 or via email at [email protected]
In my speech I had stressed that it is a collective effort of the community as a tool in suicide prevention and the onus is not only on the shoulders of the Government to bear. Places of worship, schools, colleges and universities as well as public places must constantly promote contact details of how and where help can be sought and to always, always approach the matter of mental health issues from an encouraging and supporting point of view and not one that discriminates or stigmatises the victim. If a jingle of a fast food brand can stick in your head for years, then the same approach must be used to promote the various platforms of help and aid out there on safeguarding mental health.
Let us be reminded that almost 800,000 people take their own lives every year according to WHO, which is on average 2191 persons committing suicide per day, 91 persons per hour. And the age of these suicide victims and attempted suicides are getting lower and lower. A 6-year-old girl committed suicide in a small village in Oregon in 2016, 4 children in China from age 5 to 13 also took their own lives due to poverty and the list goes on. We as a people have failed our children if they feel so helpless so as to end their own lives.
It was shocking that there was a poll conducted by a child, a 16-year-old child asking her friends and the folks on Instagram if she should end her life or not. I was mortified to read that 69% voted for her to end life and that poor troubled flame was extinguished on 13 May 2019. It was either a case of a misinformed public or that the public feels that a suicide attempt is a joke. And this is the frightening reality.
Malaysians must take charge to protect, safeguard and insure our young, youths, men and women that we will not stand down in battling mental health. We must rise above ourselves and offer love, compassion, kindness and forgiveness for our children now or else it will be too late when we handover a Malaysia Baharu to a generation of broken hearts and troubled minds.