THE people who goaded a Sarawak teenager to commit suicide in an Instagram online poll are not being investigated, said a district police chief investigating the suicide.

“We are not investigating on this matter,” Padawan district police chief Supt Aidil Bolhassan told The Malaysian Insight today.

“No issue” was all he said when pressed further.

On May 13, the 16-year-old jumped out of her third floor apartment in the Batu Kawa new township after 69% of her followers encouraged her to take her own life.

The suicide triggered worldwide attention and had sparked calls in the country for police to investigate and charge the respondents for aiding and abetting in the suicide of the girl.

Aiding and abetting in a suicide is a crime that could land the person a maximum of 10 years in jail.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Gobind Singh Deo disclosed a law governing internet use will be tweaked to deal with and prevent similar incidents.

He said MCMC was also looking into whether those who had encouraged the teen to commit suicide could be prosecuted for abetting a crime following an outcry in social media over the suicide.

Aidil, however, said investigation into the death, which police had classified as ‘sudden death’, is still ongoing. 

He said police were still waiting the reports from the Chemistry Department and other relevant agencies to wrap up their investigations.

The teenager reportedly jumped some three hours after she posted a poll “Really Important, Help Me Choose D/L” with the majority of her respondents stated she should choose “D” (death) instead of “L” (live). 

One of those who had demanded for a police probe on aiding and abetting a suicide was Gobind’s brother – Bukit Gelugor MP and DAP legal bureau head Ramkarpal Singh.

PKR national women vice-president Voon Siak Nee, however, does not believe an investigation would be of any use, as it would be difficult to charge the people who responded to the poll.

Voon, a lawyer, said that while it was indeed saddening and shocking to read the news of the girl’s suicide, nobody should be blamed for the teen’s death.

She said the incident should instead serve as a wake-up call for all social media users to seriously take note of friends’ posting “distress calls” online.

“Social media users can save lives and extend help and support via (the various) social media apps,” she said.

Voon said if the respondents were friends of the victim, they must be of the same age “with no sense of reality”. – May 20, 2019.