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Editorial: Breaking a suicidal cycle

Not long ago Taiwan was worrying about the spread of the hantavirus. Now a virus seems like nothing in comparison with a serious wave of suicides. Turn on the TV and you will hear frequent reports of people killing themselves over unemployment, relationship problems, poor health and family disputes. Such reports appear to be flooding the media. Like hypnotic commands, the reports work on people with suicidal tendencies as if they were lemmings. Our society appears to be falling into a vicious circle -- the increase in the number of suicides in turn increases the reporting on suicides.

Suicide occurs for many reasons. However, the fallout from unemployment -- the loss of income and social and self respect, interruptions to personal relationships and family order -- have become the most commonly cited reasons. According to the Life Line (生命線) counseling group, they received 4,242 phone inquiries in the second-half of last year. One-third of the callers were contemplating suicide because of the stress brought on by unemployment -- double the number previously reported and another indication of the seriousness of the unemployment problem.

After the 921 earthquake, a wave of suicides struck central Taiwan. Since the economy began to nosedive in the middle of last year, the unemployment rate began to surge. Government statistics show the unemployment rate reached 3.35 percent in January. News of layoffs by major business enterprises have become more frequent. Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) has acknowledged that the unemployment rate may rise after Taiwan enters the WTO. It looks increasingly likely that Taiwan will be haunted by high unemployment and a high suicide rate over the next few years.

Faced with the prevalence of unemployment-related suicides, Chang has promised to establish a special task force to assist the unemployed and offer counseling to groups at high risk of suicide. Such measures will, however, be limited in their effects. Although the international economy also declined last year, Taiwan's economy has been hit by a combination of economic and political instabilities of our own making. Taiwan's politicians are largely responsible for this mess and are morally obligated to remedy the situation.

The Executive Yuan has increased investment in public construction projects in an attempt to stimulate the economy -- but that is not enough. The government should stimulate private investment with even greater investment in public construction projects, creating even more employment opportunities. In the past, the government's subsidies to low-income families and unemployed individuals were based on assumptions about the level of unemployment that are now out of date, providing an inadequte basis from which to redress the problem.

Taiwan is a highly interactive society with tight interpersonal and mass-media-communication nets. A social phenomenon spreads easily. This can work for the common good, since the power of social networks easily reach to individuals and families. The government should work with religious and private volunteer social groups to construct a social safety and mutual-assistance network, so that those suffering from suicidal tendencies can receive both government and private assistance, and economic and psychological counseling. The media should also exercise self-restraint in the reporting of suicides to avoid aggravating the situation. It is the joint responsibility of government and society at large to minimize the number of suicides.
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