39 People Committed Suicide in Bali

DENPASAR, KOMPAS.com - A total of 39 people in several parts of Bali island committed suicide in the first semester of 2009 mostly because of desperation about persistent illness. "The figure actually represents a decrease compared with that in the same period in 2008 when 70 people took their own lives," Bali Police Chief Insp Gen T Ashikin Hussein said here Tuesday.

He said Bali’s relatively high suicide rate was due to a combination of factors and causes but the dominant cause was depression about a protracted illness.
Of the 39 cases recorded in the first half of 2009, 25 involved people who could no longer bear the suffering caused by an ailment.

Nine suicides were caused by frustration and five by economic difficulties, Hussein said. "So not all suicides happen because of the pressure of economic hardship," he said.

About the professions of the people involved, he said 22 of them were farmers, 10 private enterprise employees, five manual workers and two students. They ranged in age between 17 and 80 years.

Most of them killed themselves by hanging, and the rest by plunging into a ravine and taking poison while only one used a sharp weapon. Hussein said the government could help to reduce the suicide rate in Bali by paying greater attention to the life of poor people because most of the suicides happened in this segment of the community.

"In many cases, they cannot free themselves from illness because they cannot afford the financial cost," he said.