At least five people commit suicide each month in the four regencies of Cilacap, Banyumas, Purbalingga and Banjarnegara in Central Java, mostly due to problems related to economic hardship, say the Bayumas Police.
Sr. Comr. M. Ghufron, chief of the Banyumas Police, which oversee security in the four regencies, said the trend had existed for the past three years and had not shown any indication of dropping in 2009.
“We recorded 54 cases of suicide during 2009 and 90 percent of those cases involved people hanging themselves,” Ghufron said.
From 2007 to 2009, he added, there was a total of 191 cases of suicide in the region caused by problems related to poverty.
Of the cases, 74 occurred in 2007, 63 in 2008, while the remaining 54 occurred in 2009, he said.
“This should be a concern to both the community and religious figures in the region as it’s human life that we are dealing with. I want them to seek a solution to this problem,” Ghufron told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
He said that his office had tried many ways to help reduce the suicide rate, but had so far been unsuccessful.
Among the efforts, according to Ghufron, included conducting mass prayers from one district to another in cooperation with local ulemas.
“We have been conducting this for the last year, but the results have not been optimal so far,” he said.
He added that in order to achieve better results this year, his office would cooperate with the wider community and involve more parties.
“Apart from the ulemas, we will also invite the respective regency administrations and other related NGOs to take part in the programs,” he said.
The regency administrations, for example, will be expected to better deal with poverty alleviation programs to help improve people’s wealth and reduce the unemployment rate.
“We do hope this will work,” he said.
Other reasons that caused people in Banyumas to commit suicide, according to Ghufron, included broken hearts, adultery and desperation due to unhealed diseases.
“But the number is relatively small,” he said.
