Unemployment drives up male suicide
By Alan Low
HONG KONG (AFP): Like many other Hong Kong construction workers, Chan Ho-kuen had been unemployed for some time. So had his 28-year-old son, a truck driver.
Between them they supported Chan's wife and his 13-year-old daughter. But with Hong Kong's jobless rate at historic highs of close to five percent, there was little hope of finding new work and money was short.
Investigators are still trying to piece together exactly what happened at the family's flat in Mei Foo Sun on Jan. 2.
Chan and his son argued over money, and perhaps because of the sight of thousands celebrating without a care in the world the night before, something in Chan snapped.
Seizing a hammer, Chan reportedly bludgeoned first his son, then his 50-year-old wife, then the 40-yearold mother of a family friend to death.
Something stopped him from killing his daughter. When police arrived, she watched as Chan, 50, threw himself from the sixth- floor apartment.
The four deaths were the latest in the horrific toll that Hong Kong's joblessness -- currently running at 4.6 percent -- has exacted on a male population used to near full employment, raised in a tradition of providing for their families and living next to riches almost unparalleled in Asia.
In 1999, the coroner's office reported that of the 882 people who committed suicide, 358 -- 41 percent -were unemployed, compared to 27 percent who had mental illness.
Of the 358, 251 were men while 107 were women, compared to 319 men and 125 women in 1998. The 20-59 working age group accounted for 581 suicides -- 66 percent.
For 2000, Priscilla Chung, service coordinator for Samaritan Befrienders in Hong Kong (SBHK), said: "We anticipate the figures for suicide among unemployed people, and men in particular, to rise significantly" citing the financial pressures of unemployment as the main reason.
Despite the government's forecasts of economic growth, joblessness remains high in some sectors, particularly among unskilled manual laborers.
Chung said when Chinese men lost their jobs, in a world where "face" was crucial, they also often lost all self esteem.
She said they placed tremendous pressure, particularly financial, on themselves but "people don't want to apply for government assistance because of the stigma attached to it."
In 1999, SBHK received 5,904 calls. Of those, callers who were unemployed or feared joblessness were the most common, accounting for 22.8 percent of the total.
Director of the Samaritans multilingual service, Stephanie Camareo, said men appeared to suffer worse.
"Women seem to have a greater capacity for sharing their problems while men tend to hold them in and really suffer very badly when they can't cope," she said.
Chow Pui-yong, a 53-year-old former factory storeman who lost his job two years ago, begs on Hong Kong's streets for spare change to pay for food.
"I feel like ... nothing," said Chow. Chow said he had not applied for state benefits and his grown-up children no longer sent money home.
"I don't want to do this. But what choice do I have? The government want us to grovel for a few dollars."
Social security assistance in Hong Kong is means-tested and dependent on family size, income, savings and properties owned. Those with savings exceeding 64,000 (US$ 8,216) are not eligible.
A spokeswoman for the social welfare department stressed: "We pay for basic needs only."