KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 — From today onwards, Malaysia will no longer punish those who try to commit suicide with jail or fine, as it is no longer a crime in the country.
Instead, the Malaysian government has improved its mental health law, by empowering more officers to rescue those who attempt suicide and quickly get medical help for them.
In a joint statement by the Prime Minister’s Department’s Legal Affairs Division (BHEUU) and the Health Ministry (MOH), the government said it had today enforced three new laws in conjunction with World Suicide Prevention Day 2025. These three laws were passed in Parliament in 2023, but did not take effect until today.
“It is the Madani government’s hope that the reforms of these laws will be a huge shift in efforts to prevent attempted suicides in Malaysia, by encouraging those whose mental health are affected, to step forward to get help; to eradicate stigma towards attempted suicides and reduce the rate of deaths due to suicides,” BHEUU and MOH said in the statement.
Under the new laws, it is still a crime to assist anyone to commit suicide. This can be punished with up to 10 years’ jail and fine.
The new laws introduced a new crime of assisting anyone to attempt suicide, which is also punishable with a maximum 10 years’ jail and fine.
There is a heavier punishment of a maximum 20 years’ jail and fine, for the crime of helping children and those who lack mental capacity to commit suicide or attempt suicide.
This is because these two groups are “vulnerable groups” who are exposed to situations where they are easily influenced and manipulated, BHEUU said.
Here’s a quick summary of the new laws:
New: Crisis intervention officers; special training, new SOPs
Under the new laws, Malaysia has introduced the new position of “Crisis Intervention Officers” (PIK).
Crisis intervention officers include police officers, social welfare officers, Fire and Rescue Department officers, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) officers, and Malaysia Civil Defence Force (APM) officers.
Such officers have the powers to rescue those who attempt to commit suicide, and bring them to the nearest psychiatric hospitals for assessment and preliminary treatment.
According to today’s statement, these are what the government has been doing to help crisis intervention officers do their job:
- MOH is in the final stages of gazetting 145 hospitals (almost all MOH’s hospitals and two university hospitals) as government psychiatric hospitals which can accept referrals from crisis intervention officers. This includes cases in rural areas.
- Govt will start special training soon for crisis intervention officers on how to handle those who attempted to commit suicide. This will ensure uniform implementation nationwide.
- BHEUU together with MOH and all enforcement agencies have prepared new Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to coordinate crisis intervention officers’ first response when facing attempted suicide cases.
In the same statement, BHEUU and MOH urged everyone to have empathy and ensure easy access to treatment and support for anyone who is facing a mental health crisis.
“Whoever is facing mental health problems can contact the mental health crisis aid helpline, namely Talian HEAL at 15555 to obtain help,” it said.
*If you are lonely, distressed, or having negative thoughts, Befrienders offers free and confidential support 24 hours a day. A full list of Befrienders contact numbers and state operating hours is available here: www.befrienders.org.my/centre-in-malaysia. There are also free hotlines for young people: Talian Kasih at 15999 (24/7); Talian BuddyBear at 1800-18-2327(BEAR)(daily 12pm-12am); Mental Health Psychosocial Support Service (03-2935 9935 or 014-322 3392); and Jakim’s Family, Social and Community Care Centre (WhatsApp 0111-959 8214).
