First and foremost, the government should decriminalise the act of attempting to commit suicide as the current law does not help in combating the suicide scenario. The punishment of imprisonment or fine available for such an act in the Penal Code will only place them in a worse situation and cause them to become even more distressed. As aforesaid, these attempters choose to commit suicide as the final decision mostly due to the mental illness they suffered for. They needed therapy to resolve their dilemma, sending them to prison would make it worse and they could be laughed at by other inmates for the reason they were serving a prison sentence. Even after they have served their time in prison, the incident will become more serious and an issue in society, affecting not just the person committed suicide but also their family. The depression and stress that the person and their family must endure will undoubtedly be worse than the stress that the attempters must endure alone. To put it briefly, the existing legal position of punishing individuals who try suicide is not the greatest option.

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Additionally, another reason that encourages the government should decriminalize the offence of attempt to commit suicide in our country is that the suicide attempters need mental health help instead of getting into prison and having their actions treated as a crime. According to a media statement released by Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, the previous Health Minister, there are around 4.2 million Malaysians who are currently confronting or living with mental health disorders, with larger numbers projected in the future. The rising number of Malaysians suffering from mental health issues is alarming. Furthermore, due to the problem of unemployment, loss of income, and domestic violence, the serious covid-19 pandemic and the extension of FMCO will very probably raise the numbers significantly.

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Furthermore, the typical Malaysian’s perception often opines that people who seek mental health treatment and assistance from appropriate authorities are unavailing and this makes it more difficult for those who are suffering from mental health issues to seek care. As a result, rather than venting their frustrations to the correct authorities, they prefer to commit suicide to stop their emotional agony. It will never help to reduce the incidence of suicides however it is unfair for a mentally ill attempter to serve time for their irrational acts. It is worth noting that their actions should not be treated as a crime, instead they need society’s love and support.

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In drawing things to a close, the government should decriminalise the offence of attempt to commit suicide in Malaysia because the law is not relevant to current social needs and is not a solution to end the act of suicide anymore. 8 countries in Southeast Asia’s region had either not included the act of suicide as an offence or had abolished the section in their laws that made it an infraction. Our neighbouring country, Singapore, is likewise a British colony with the identical provision in the Penal Code that makes suicide a crime. Based on the statement of Datuk Liew Vui Keong in the Star news, Singapore has announced that attempted suicide will no longer be considered a crime. The legislation will take effect on January 1, 2020, as part of the Criminal Law Reforms Act, which was passed by Parliament in May 2020. They are further advanced deciding to decriminalise the act of attempting suicide in Southeast Asia followed by Myanmar, which was also once under British colonisation.

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The Malaysian Penal Code was inherited and adopted from India during British colonisation, and several elements, particularly the provision on attempted suicide, are identical to those in the Indian Penal Code. During the British colonisation period, the law was significantly influenced by the theological concept that suicide is against God’s will, and that the best way to dissuade suicide is to punish those who attempt to commit themselves. Is this, however, still the best approach to prevent suicide over time? Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, a member of the Council, in Straits Times urged that the Attorney-Chambers General’s (AGC) should speed up its review of suggestions made forward by the appropriate ministry to abolish the clause. He claimed that the section in the Penal Code was outdated and that it should be repealed. The argument for keeping this obsolete rule from the British era is that removing it might encourage more suicide attempts. There is no evidence, either in the form of data or case studies, that decriminalisation causes an increase in suicides. It is worth bearing in mind that since March 2018, India has had the Mental Health Bill 2016 enacted in the lower house of Parliament to legalise the act of attempted suicide. Furthermore, according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) analysis of the situation after decriminalising suicide in 192 nations around the world, there is no evidence that the act of legalising suicide will increase the number of suicides.