Increasing social pressure triples suicide cases
Increasing social pressure triples suicide cases
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Increasing social pressure in Jakarta is believed to be the main
factor in people committing suicide, experts say, in response to
a tripling in the number of suicide cases reported by the police.
In the first semester of 2003, suicides had tripled to 62 from
last year's 19 over the same period. Police reports say that most
people committed suicide by hanging themselves, while some used
other methods, including drinking poisonous substances, cutting
blood vessels, jumping from high-rise buildings or setting
themselves on fire.
Financial difficulties were the dominant reason for people
wishing to end their lives. Other causes included the breakup of
relationships and family-related stress.
Psychologist from the University of Indonesia Sartono Mukadis
blamed the significant jump in suicides partly on tough urban
living conditions.
"Jakarta has very few places where people can chat and share
their feelings. At the same time, social pressures on people to
move up the social ladder grow stronger. People already under
stress cannot relieve their frustration and discontent," he said
on Thursday.
Sartono revealed that his study was carried out in Batam
island, Riau, last year, where 34 suicides were reported within
10 months.
He said that the high incidence of suicide in Batam was
closely related to hostile conditions on the island, where
solidarity within ethnic groups there had been severely
undermined.
"Similar circumstances could occur in Jakarta, where people
from different ethnic groups and social status live side by
side."
Urban planning expert from Trisakti University Yayat
Supriyatna said that Jakarta had become a more stressful city due
to increasing social, political and economic problems.
He related the stress to chronic problems that had to be
overcome by Jakartans, following the crisis that severely hit the
country's economy in mid-1997.
In 1998, Jakartans had to cope with the bloody May riots,
which led to the resignation of former president Soeharto. In
1999, political tension was heightened during the general
election, and it was then followed by massive flooding that
affected most areas in the capital in early 2002.
"Jakarta has become a stressful metropolis; it is a really
unhealthy place to live," Yayat said.
He also blamed Jakarta's unhealthy state on overcrowding,
which had led to a deterioration in the quality of people's
lives.
Data from the city administration shows that the city's
population density can be more than 14,000 people per square
kilometer (sq km). In some areas, like Tambora, North Jakarta,
and Senen, Central Jakarta, the number of residents can reach
20,000 per sq km.
Jakarta's population is about 18 million people by day and 11
million by night, due to inward commuting from adjacent urban
area in Greater Jakarta.