Comments for Police consider using the law on suicide at http://www.malaysianbar.org.my , comment 0 to 3 out of 3 comments http://www.malaysianbar.org.my Fri, 10 Feb 2012 08:00:57 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/news_features/police_consider_using_the_law_on_suicide.html#pc_8692 If my memory has not deserted me, it was Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) of France - the acknowledged founder of sociology - who authored a definitive book on suicide. Any person contemplating suicide is actually rejecting the society that he or she finds himself or herself in. The modern view is for the State to prosecute. The post-modern view is that the State can do nothing for the suicidal, except perhaps perpetuate the fiction that medication works. It still does not, despite the latest American talk about dopamine imbalance years ago. So to punish the suicidal is just pushing the envelope, hoping that the "dire circumstance" for the suicidal will pass. It is also using a modern method in our post-modern age. There are better ways to deal with this. One is to ensure that people are not housed too closely together and that apartments have facilities such as parks, pools and playgrounds. Stephen Tan Ban Cheng - Stephen Tan Ban Cheng Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:24:22 +0100 http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/news_features/police_consider_using_the_law_on_suicide.html#pc_8688 If I want to commit suicide, will the idea of me getting caught cross my mind? Hmmm..... Nope. If I want to die, imprisonment is certainly not worth considering. This remind me of a joke, 2 policemen was walking on the street and saw 2 robbers running from the crime scene, the more senior policeman shouted:"stop, or I will shoot". One stopped, while the other kept running. Bang, the policeman fire a shot and hit the robber who stood still. The junior policeman asked:" why shoot the guy who stoodstill?" and the more senior policeman answer:" it's easier." ;D Tan Chun Ming - Tan Chun Ming Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:37:58 +0100 http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/news_features/police_consider_using_the_law_on_suicide.html#pc_8685 Our natural make-up is geared for survival rather than self destruction. There are different causes for suicide, but by far the most common cause is despair. When a person takes or tries to take his own life, most of the time it is because he feels that he has reached the end of the road, with no hope whatsoever in sight. It is often absoulte despair that drives a person to suicide. Such a person needs proper help, not imprisonment or be fined. Society has in some way failed him, otherwise he would not have been driven to this state. As a deterrent? Imagine a person at the verge of suicide, who does not want to live any more. Would the prospect of imprisonment or fine (which will only occur from a failed attempt) deter a person in such mental state from proceeding to carry out a successful suicide? Would that even cross his mind at that moment of despair? Get serious. Yeo Yang Poh - Yeo Yang Poh Tue, 25 Nov 2008 10:41:31 +0100