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Her husband, Mahfud, explained that their life had come to the end of its tether and was no longer bearable. Their second son, Galuh, had suffered from brain cancer for a year and the pain was getting worse. The family did not have the money to buy prescription medicines that cost 300,000 rupiah (US$33), as their total income was only about 500,000 rupiah (US$55). A desperate Jasih could think of no solution but to take his life, and her own.
In another case earlier in the year, a 35-year-old mother poisoned her four children, recorded the crime on her phone and then committed suicide. Mohamed Ronji, a 27-year-old father with no money to pay his electricity bills, hung himself with a plastic rope. Minan Bin Missan, unable to afford medicine, committed suicide. The list of such miserable stories is long and dreadful and points the finger poignantly at the state.
The Indonesian constitution clearly spells out the obligations of the state toward persons deprived of socio-economic benefits. Section X, Article 27 (2) states, "Each citizen shall be entitled to an occupation and an existence proper for a human being." Similarly, state responsibilities under Section XA, Article 28B (2) also gives "each child the right to live, grow up, and develop as well as the right to protection from violence or discrimination."
The Constitution goes still further by making it explicit in Section XIV, Article 34, "(1) Impoverished persons and abandoned children are to be taken care of by the state. (2) The state develops a social security system for everybody and empowers the weak and underprivileged in society in accordance with their dignity as human beings. (3) The state has the responsibility to provide proper medical and public service facilities."
How can one understand the Constitution when suicides have hit such a high, as shown by World Health Organisation statistics? WHO estimates the average number of deaths due to suicide in Indonesia at 24 per 100,000 of the population, which translates roughly to 50,000 suicides each year, or 140 people on average each day or five per hour. Local papers in Indonesia published the WHO report, which listed economic deprivation as the first cause of suicide.
Economic deprivation seems to have affected every aspect of life. Ahmad Prayitno, a researcher at the University of Trisakti, was quoted by the Jakarta media company Tempointeractive as saying that factors that cause suicide are the high number of unemployed -- close to 40 million people -- the spiraling cost of living, a bad psychosocial environment, a large economic gap, migrant workers and mentally ill patients who are not cared for.
Some questions pertinent to the situation of economic deprivation leading to suicide need to be raised. While it is true that the state has proclaimed its responsibilities, what effective mechanisms are in place for reporting, monitoring, and providing assistance? In case they already exist, how effective are those? Is there any guarantee that these existing institutions have the mandate to visit, verify their real status and alert the government of the real status of poverty? How is it possible for a doctor not to make a recommendation to the Ministry of Health to provide medicine for a poor child suffering from cancer?
Large segments of the population residing in the provinces live in slums, under bridges and on riverbanks while many live as beggars on the streets of Jakarta and other major cities. These persons are considered eyesores in the cities, and perhaps the state sees them as destroying the beauty of the city and as being a nuisance. There is currently a debate in the Municipal Council whether begging should be banned on city streets -- an obvious attempt to hide the problem rather than address it. Unfortunate as it might seem, these people die hidden deaths and are later added to the list of suicides.
The conditions of such persons driven by deprivation, isolation, and obscurity are never examined nor are solutions sought. The state has obviously failed to stand up to its obligations. There is no getting away from that. Even suicides committed by mentally ill people are no excuse for the state to dispense with its responsibilities.
Though the state has provided hospitals to take care of the persons with mental and psychological problems, they are all ill-equipped, have unqualified personnel and are denied much-needed resources. Staff there is compelled to work under very difficult conditions, which demonstrates the absolute disregard that the state has for the economically deprived, socially displaced and mentally disabled people.
The report published by the WHO is a clarion call for Indonesia to take a second look at its commitment to its own Constitution and the people it is required to safeguard, which includes their right to live.
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(Philip Setunga is a staff member of the Asian Human Rights Commission in Hong Kong responsible for the organization's research on Indonesia. He has a doctorate in sociology.)
