KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 — Malaysia is seeking to decriminalise suicide attempts, said Law and Institutional Reforms Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said today, the latest in a recent slew of legal reforms pursued by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s government.
The announcement comes a day after the Parliament on Monday voted to remove the mandatory death penalty, trim the number of offences punishable by death, and abolish natural-life prison sentences.
The law currently stipulates that anyone attempting suicide can be jailed for up to one year, fined, or both.
The government wants to repeal that but will retain “aiding and abetting” suicide as a criminal offence Azalina said in a statement.
The government also proposes strengthening punishment for cases of aiding suicide involving children and mentally incapacitated people.
“This is based on the fact that suicide attempts are within the scope of suicidal behaviour and this act is the impact of mental incapacity or psychiatric disorder,” Azalina said.
In comments made last year, former Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said Malaysia had in 2021 recorded 1,142 suicide cases in, compared to 631 cases in 2020.
Its suicide mortality rate was at 5.7 per 100,000 population in 2019, according to the most recent data from World Bank.
The proposal to decriminalise suicide attempts was introduced in the lower house on Tuesday. However, a vote will likely only take place in the next parliament session, a law ministry spokesperson said.
Azalina said the government hopes the reform will encourage those affected to seek help, remove the stigma of suicide, and lower the country’s suicide death rate.
— Reuters
