Ramkarpal Singh says the government plans to table the repeal of Section 309 of the Penal Code in the current Dewan Rakyat meeting that ends April 4 to decriminalise attempted suicide, after years of advocacy to treat sufferers as patients, not criminals.
Should there be any concern in there being a lacuna upon repeal -- the government can instruct, administratively, for the police to invoke its powers under Section 10 of the Mental Health Act in cases of attempted suicide to admit the person into a psychiatric hospital.
Unsafe reporting of suicides is a risk factor for future suicidal behaviour among vulnerable groups through imitation, especially when detailed methods are portrayed in the report.
The National Suicide and Fatal Injury Registry Malaysia project, with an RM4 million allocation under the 12MP, will be completed in 2023, after the National Suicide Registry Malaysia ended 2011.
Khairy Jamaluddin says the Health Ministry’s memorandum -- which proposes a moratorium on the prosecution and conviction of suicide attempts pending a repeal or amendment of Section 309 in Parliament -- will be tabled in Cabinet.
The decision to repeal Section 309 will finally bring Malaysia out of the 20 countries in the world which continue to criminalise suicide and attempted suicide.
A 56-year-old man from Balakong, Selangor, died from suicide on June 28 after being jobless for over two months; he, his wife, and adult daughter all contracted Covid-19.