KUCHING, May 16: Police are not investigating those who voted for the 16-year-old teenager from Batu Kawa to die in an Instagram poll for criminal offences.
Padawan district police chief Supt Aidil Bolhassan told DayakDaily that the victim had committed suicide because of family problems and not because of the result of the social media poll as alleged.
“We are not investigating the case for criminal offences. It’s (a) family problem, ” said Aidil, adding that the victim’s posts on social media had been removed on the same day she jumped to her death.
News of the girl who allegedly committed suicide after conducting an Instagram poll to decide if she should kill herself or not has gone viral internationally.
The shocking suicide had prompted many leaders across all divides to call for investigations.
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) warned that abetting a person below 18-years-old to commit suicide is a crime punishable by 20 years jail and liable to fine, according to Section 305 of the Penal Code.
In a statement released on their Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SuruhanjayaKomunikasiMultimediaMalaysia/photos/pcb.2796446160381822/2796445493715222), MCMC reminded members of the public to use social media carefully and responsibly and to report to the police if they find any of their friends having the tendency to commit suicide.
The teenager reportedly fell from the third floor of a shop lot in Batu Kawa New Township on May 13. As many as 69 per cent of the teenager’s followers on Instagram had supported the decision for her to kill herself via a poll.
The teen had reportedly posted on the Instagram poll, ‘Really Important, Help Me Choose D/L’ hours before committing suicide. D/L refers to death/life.
However, some media reports said some of the victim’s friends voted without knowing the meaning of it, but simply chose D or L based on their preference.
According to the police, she had also uploaded a Facebook status that read: ‘WANNA QUIT F**KING LIFE I’M TIRED.’
“The teenager was believed to have felt stressed when her stepfather married a Vietnamese woman and seldom returned to their home,” Aidil was quoted as saying.
Her body was found at about 8pm by a member of the public, who then reported the discovery to the Batu Kawa Police Station. No criminal elements were detected at the scene, and the case has been classified as sudden death. — DayakDaily
