KUALA LUMPUR: On May 5 last year, a law student jumped off the Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah Bridge in Penang, four days after it was opened to the public.

Fortunately, fishermen rescued the then-26-year-old. However, his family’s relief did not last long.

Police started investigations under Section 309 of the Penal Code for attempted suicide and the youth found himself facing the possibility of spending a year in jail, paying a fine, or both.

He was not the only one who had faced the situation. Several others who had tried to commit suicide had been investigated.

The continued existence of Section 309, a relic of colonial days, had been debated many times. Some say it helps deter suicide attempts, but most, including medical experts, believe it only punishes those who need treatment.

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Professor of Psychology Dr T. Maniam said people who contemplate suicide feared the punishment if they failed to die.

“I have had a patient who told me this: ‘If I attempt suicide, I will choose a method that guarantees death, because if I survive, I will be jailed.’ This fear may push them to choose very dangerous methods to end their lives,” he said.

Dr Maniam said those who wanted to seek help might actually be deterred by the law out of fear of being reported to the police.

“We know with certainty that those who had attempted suicide in the past have the highest risk of completing the act later.

“We want these people to seek professional help, but this law is standing in the way.”

Official statistics from the Health Ministry show that Malaysia’s suicide rate is 1.3 to every 100,000 people a year, but experts believe actual numbers are far higher, to between 10 and 13 per 100,000 people.

Perdana University Graduate School of Medicine’s Associate Professor Datuk Dr Andrew Mohanraj said Malaysia was one of the few countries, which still criminalised suicide.

“To detain and charge people immediately after an attempt is to deny them appropriate treatment, diminishing any hope for recovery.

“Justice needs to be tempered with mercy. A suicide attempt is a cry for help,” he said.

Some groups justify the law’s existence by saying that its removal might encourage more suicide attempts. Dr Maniam said it was not the case.

“In countries where the law was removed, there was no change in suicide rates but more people were open to report attempted suicides.”

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