Suicide is Contagious

The number of people committing suicides in Indonesia has been increasing in the last few years.

In 2010, 81 cases of suicide were reported to the Jakarta Police. And according to a 2005 survey by the World Heath Organization, around 50,000 people committed suicide in the country every year.

In this regards, The Jakarta Globe has quoted a mental health expert in Jakarta as saying that this increase may have been caused by media coverage of people committing suicides.

Considering the above, I hope that the news media would be more careful in reporting about suicide case.

Photo: Courtesy of PhotoSearch

Expensive Education Leads to Suicide

The news media have been reporting about very young children committing suicide because they were very disappointed becase their parents cannot afford to pay expensive school fees.

Recently, Kompas reported that a third grade student of a Junior High School in Pasuruan, East Java, has attempted to commit suicide because his parents have no money to pay for his further study.

I hope that the central and local governments and members of parliaments would start thinking about ways to make education in Indonesia more affordable for all the people.

Another Financial Problem over Education in Indonesia Leading to Suicide 

Senin, 5 April 2010 | 07:26 WIB

PASURUAN, KOMPAS.com - A local junior high school student tried to commit suicide  by taking an influenza medication with soft drink after finishing his national exam as his parents could not afford to finance further study.  Ainul Basori, a third grade student at Nguling junior high school (SMPN 3), Pasuruan, East Java, was found unconscious with the rest of a soft drink and drug at his grandmother’s house near his house in Karangnongko Hamlet, Cukurgondang village, Grati sub-district, on Saturday.

Basori was rushed to nearest public health clinic. He said  his action was prompted by his disappointment for not being able to continue his study to a higher level at Nguling Vocational School (SMKN) after his parents told him that they could not afford it.
   
Joko Sastro, the father, admitted that he was incapable to pay for his oldest son’s registration at Nguling vocational high school due to his minimum income to support his two siblings. Joko had been relying on the government’s program of Family Hope Program (PKH), but because Basori is now entering high school, the assistance had to be stopped.

Suicides & Reactions

"Committing Suicide at Shopping Malls is contagious!" That's what I thought when I read the media reports about three suicides cases that took place recently in Jakarta.

The first one was a young lady Ice Yuniar (24), domiciled at Palembang, South Sumatera, who jumped from the Fifth Floor of the Grand Indonesia shopping mall, Central Jakarta. She died instantly.
Four and a half hours later, a man Reno Fadillah Hakim (25), domiciled at South Jakarta, jumped from the Fifth Floor of Senayan City shopping mall, South Jakarta. He died on the way to a hospital.
For details, please click here.

Four days later, Friday, 4 December another man Rikhard Kuirniawan (35) domiciled at Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, jumped from the Eleventh Floor of the Parking Building of Mangga Dua Square shopping mall at North Jakarta. For details, please click here.

The above mentioned suicides have deeply shocked and saddened the families of the deceased, in this connection I would like to express my deepest condolence and sympathy for them.

Further, I would like to quote and share two different writings made by a blogger and a media reporter about the suicide cases.

Blogger Unspun wrote about the reports in Republika which quoted PR of Senayan City as saying that she was very disappointed with Reno's suicide, and wished that he did it elsewhere like a bridge, or fly-over or other high rise building. But later, she denied saying those words. For details, please click here and here.

While a reporter of The Jakarta Globe wrote that the suicides demonstrate the danger of Twitter jounalism. For details, please click here.

Considering the above, I felt that our society should make efforts to stop or at least minimize such suicide. For which purpose there would be efforts to study why people are committing suicides, and why have they chosen famous malls to do that.

Suicide by a Student

While we were still shocked and angered by the terrorists' suicide bombings of the Hotel JW Marriot and Hotel Ritz-Carlton on 17 July, the media reported another shocking news about a 12 years old Indian school girl who jumped from her 12th floor apartment in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, on 24 July.

The girl, Okeshi Naharan, a 7th grade student at the Jakarta Gandhi Memorial School, was believed to be very disappointed and depressed because of the bad result of testings at her school.

For details regarding the above, please click here, here and here.

In this regards, I wish to express my condolence and sympathy to the family of Okeshi Naharan. As a parent, I felt so sad with the suicide of a very young child merely because of failure to meet the school's requirements.
In my opinion, the knowledge and ability of a student cannot be determined merely by the results of testings and/or examinations at the school. Because we cannot expect a student to always perform well. For example, a student who usually performed well, may not get good markings at a test/exam if at that time he/she does not feel well or any other reasons.

The Mysterious Death of David Carradine

Four days have passed since the American actor David Carradine was found dead at the closet of his room at the Nai Lert Park Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday, 4 June 2009, but the actual cause of his death is still a mystery (photo:courtesy of AFP).

According to CNN, Carradine’s wife and manager have denied allegations that the actor has committed a suicide. But, rescue workers and police in Bangkok, said that the actor's neck and genitals were found bound with nylon ropes.
" Our preliminary assumption is that the cause of death was suffocation, because there was a rope tied to his neck " said Bangkok police spokesman Somprasong Yenthuam.
The actor's body was released to the U.S. Embassy for a Saturday flight home after a judge signed the death certificate Friday, the Thai police source said. The actor’s family has ordered an autopsy to be conducted after his body arrived in the U.S. And autopsy results will not be available for three or four weeks, said a high-ranking Thai police source who asked not to be identified.
David Carradine (72) was the son of actor John Carradine, he began his career as an actor in TV serial films, starting with SHANE in 1966, KUNG FU between 1972 and 1975, North and South in 1985, and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues in 1992. He also played starring roles in the movies: Bound for Glory in 1976, Kill Bill: Vol.1 in 1983, and Kill Bill: Vol.2 in 2004. He was in Bangkok in the making of the movie STRECH which he stars.

The Telegraph quoted David Carradine’s manager as saying that the actor's death was a result of "foul play", his director Quentin Tarantino said the actor would have relished dying in such mysterious circumstances. Tarantino, who revived the actor's career by casting him in Kill Bill, described Carradine as “One of Hollywood's great, mad geniuses.”

Meanwhile, according to ABC, David Carradine’s death probably caused by a Sexual Practice called Auto-Erotic Asphyxia (AEA), which is one of the greatest and most dangerous sexual taboos. Sex experts say that Carradine's advanced age suggests that he may have been a lifelong practitioner of the secretive and dangerous practice, one that can go fatally awry. The practice is a sub-category of sexual masochism that involves reducing the oxygen supply to the brain while masturbating to achieve a heightened orgasm. The same practice has caused the death of vocalist of the band INXS Michael Hutchence.

The allegations that the cause of Carradine’s death was a dangerous sexual practice called Auto-Erotic Asphyxia, which is unknown in Indonesia, is very surprising. Now that David Carradine’s body has been returned to the U.S for autopsy, I hope that the mystery would soon be known.