Net still full of information on ending one's life
Facebook may have banned a suicide group from its social networking site, but the internet is still flooded with information on how to end one's life.
Just two days ago, a member of the Hong Kong Golden Forum internet bulletin board wrote: 'I want to commit suicide ... sometimes I really want to jump onto the rails the moment the train arrives. This world has no room for me to survive. It's useless, even if I work hard.'
By last night, it had received more than 80 responses. One of them read: 'I also want to [commit suicide]. Let's [kill ourselves] together. I don't dare do it on my own.'
Facebook banned the Chinese-language group called 'I have to practise committing suicide'. But other, English-language groups with 'suicide' in their name were still on Facebook. And information on suicide methods can easily be found on the internet. The full text of The Complete Manual of Suicide by Wataru Tsurumi, banned in Hong Kong, was posted on one forum.
Since August last year, Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong has launched a programme on the internet to find and help people with suicidal thoughts. Chiu Mei-yin, who is in charge of the volunteer agency, said it had found more then 80,000 websites and blogs with people expressing suicidal thoughts over the past 15 months.
'By working with an internet company, we try to search content on the Net looking for high-risk words, such as 'suicide' and 'want to kill myself',' she said. 'After locating them, we then try to talk with the content providers to see if we can help them deal with their difficulties.'
Paul Yip Siu-fai, director of the Hong Kong Jockey Club's Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, said it was like finding a needle in a haystack, but was worth the effort. 'The mode of communication has changed, but we have to embrace the challenge.'
This month the Social Welfare Department began making annual payments of HK$840,000 to Samaritan Befrienders, to improve its support services for families of suicide victims and to search the Web for suicidal people to help.
