THE alleged suicide of a 16-year-old Sarawakian who used an Instagram poll to determine her fate has thrown the topic of mental health into the spotlight again.

As a youth myself, I believe it is important that we acknowledge that the challenges my generation faces are vastly different from those of generations before, amplified by social media.

As children, we would occasionally be envious of our classmate having the latest Gameboy. Now, imagine being able to see the entire world’s toys through your smartphone. It doesn’t help that people tend to put their best foot forward on social media. We see friends vacationing in exotic locations or doing fun activities, and experience FOMO (fear of missing out), forgetting that we are comparing our “behind-the-scenes” footage to someone else’s highlight reel.

Despite social media’s ability to foster global connections, Malaysian youth still report feelings of social isolation. The 2017 National Health and Morbidity Survey showed that more than a third of students aged 13 to 17 displayed symptoms of depression and felt they had no close friends.

However, banning or restricting social media use among youth is a clumsy solution. Social media is an almost essential part of the lives of today’s youth, just like how Microsoft Office was indispensable to corporates in the 1990s. There is a silver lining: on social media, especially Twitter, I’ve read many honest outpourings by young mental health patients. Some shared stories about the barriers to getting and managing treatment, others of stigma, and there are those who gave thoughtful recommendations on improving mental healthcare in Malaysia.

We need to bring these discussions into the physical and policy-making space. I applaud Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman for responding quickly to the Batu Kawah suicide case by calling on all parties to take part in an honest conversation on mental health. It is high time that all stakeholders work together to address mental health using the end-to-end perspective. Mental healthcare is more than offering counselling services or focusing on suicide prevention. We need to tackle various areas in the spectrum, from learning how to express and process our emotions healthily, and building mental resilience in early childhood, to identifying signs of mental distress and accessing treatment, as well as managing mental illness at home and in the workplace.

Reframing or broadening the discussion on mental health may help reduce stigma, in that people realise that:

1) Individual mental health is a continuous “work in progress”;

2) It is alright to seek help; and,

3) Mental health affects everyone, even those who are seemingly normal or highly successful.

To this end, I echo the call by my colleague, Subang Jaya rep Michelle Ng, for the decriminalisation of attempted suicide. The punishment underlined in Section 309 of the Penal Code – one year’s imprisonment, or a fine, or both – is counterproductive, and cruel to suicide survivors who need help, not imprisonment. Furthermore, criminalising suicide attempts only drives those who are considering suicide to ensure that they are successful in their first attempt.

In a larger context, reframing how we as a society respond to setbacks and failures – whether on our part or others – is crucial to reduce the stigma and risk involving mental health patients. It is a collective failure that fellow Malaysians saw the 16-year-old’s cry for help on Instagram as something trivial. It is also our collective responsibility to ensure such a case never happens again. – May 18, 2019.

* Lim Yi Wei is Kampung Tunku assemblyman and Selangor DAP Wanita organising secretary.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.