Vice president says she once thought about killing herself

Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) revealed yesterday how she had considered killing herself while in jail as a political prisoner as she spoke out about the growing number of suicides in Taiwan.

"One has to live on to serve society despite hundreds or even thousands of excuses for suicide," she said at a press conference.

Lu, who was jailed by the former KMT government as a political dissident, admitted that she had thought about killing herself on three separate occasions.

"But if I had done so, I would not be able to stand here talking to you today," she said.

Lu voiced her concern about increasing reports of suicides carried recently in local newspapers.

In one instance, there were four reported cases of suicide in one night in Taipei alone.

One of the four, a 77-year-old woman, Lin Miao, died after she was admitted to a hospital for emergency treatment after drinking pesticide.

Another was an unemployed man named Hung Chung (洪中), 41, who was found dead after jumping from a building.

"Many of the people were seeking help due to economic problems," Sun Chi-hsien, a senior social worker with a non-profit lifeline organization, told a newspaper.

Official reports showed Friday that Taiwan's unemployment rate climbed to 3.35 percent in January, the highest monthly rate since November 1985, on the back of an economic slowdown and restructuring of local industry.

A total of 2,281 people committed suicide in Taiwan last year, according to the Department of Health.