Special committee says ready to discuss suicides among women and children

The government’s special committee on women and children’s affairs has become the latest to voice concern over the recent trend of suicides among women and youth, saying the matter will be raised as an issue of priority when it convenes for a meeting.

Azalina Othman Said, the chairman of the Special Select Committee on Women and Children Affairs and Social Development, said the committee’s purpose is to investigate and report proposals, petitions, reports and other documents related to the well-being of women and children and social development.

“This special select committee is empowered to call up anyone including those who have expertise and skills under Meeting Rule 83 (2),” she said in a statement.

“Aside from that, as enshrined under Meeting Rule 86, the committee will also prepare and present a statement containing the recommendations related to the issue.”

The police said yesterday that 609 suicide cases had been recorded in 2019, 631 in 2020 and 468 from January to May this year – an average of two suicides a day from 2019 to May 2021.

In terms of gender, 281 men and 1,427 women were recorded as having killed themselves from 2019 to May 2021.

“The majority of them – 872 – were aged 15 to 18 while 668 were aged 19 to 40,” the police statement said.

Azalina today said she was confident that optimising the function and role of the special select committee would help the government find a solution quickly to prevent the matter from continuing to threaten and cause concern in society.