SUICIDE RATE HIGH AMONG MALAYSIAN INDIANS

• Kuala Lumpur, July 24, 2009 . The high suicide rate among Malaysian Indians, the third largest ethnic group in the country, is worrying authorities.
• The rate of 30-35 per 100,000 committing or attempting suicide every year is three times the national average of 10-12 per 100,000, according to New Straits News.
• Eminent Malaysian psychiatrist Prof Dr T. Maniam told a roundtable discussion organised by the Indian Malaysian Congress (IMC) here that the common factors for committing suicide among the community are poverty, physical abuse, alcoholism, drug abuse and unemployment.
• He added that the graphic media coverage of suicide cases was also responsible for the high suicide rate.MIC deputy president G. Palanivel said negative scenes in Tamil movies should be reduced. "The movies sometimes glorify suicide and attach value to it, but for a depressed mind, it acts as a trigger for them to plan out their suicides," he was quoted as saying.
• He said detection of suicidal tendencies could result in early intervention and thus reduce the problem among the Indian community. Representatives of non-governmental organisations, universities and colleges, religious bodies, representatives of the Social Welfare Department and National Family Development and Community Board attended the discussion.

SOURCE: http://www.indianmuslims.info/book/export/html/3502