If you grew up in a Singaporean household, you would hear your parents double dare you by saying the following things when you tried or were caught doing something not approved of:

"Go out with your friends. Go lah, if you dare!"

"Fall down? Very good!

"You scraped your knee from running around? Do some more lah!"

And the list goes on.

While most of us are aware that taunting is just another disciplinary method, sometimes it can be inappropriate, especially when you taunt a vulnerable suicidal person.

Woman taunts suicidal person

A tweet uploaded on April 11 shows a screengrabbed Facebook Live video originally uploaded by one Mala Yono Don, narrating the inconvenience she faced caused by a suicide attempt.

You can never be more asian than this.

“If you want to jump, just jump; don’t waste our time cause we all need to go to work.”

Don’t commit suicide. Call 1800 221 4444 if you are depressed pic.twitter.com/1Mj37v3kMv

— Mahathir (@MahathirAhmad) April 11, 2018

The video, however, just shows an HDB block cordoned off and a flock of birds, with no suicidal person in sight.

The live video has since been taken off her Facebook page.

Waste of time

For our non-Malay speaking friends, here's what Mala said in the video.

"We can't go out right now because this idiot is wasting our time, trying to jump off the building.

Because of him, the police closed off the area and we can't go out. So inconsiderate, alamak.

Can you tell him to jump down quickly?

He's just wasting my time, I can't even go anywhere.

If you want to jump, just jump. Don't waste our time because we all need to go to work."

Encouraged by others

It seems as if she wasn't alone, as two other voices were faintly heard in the video.

Surprisingly, they too seem to share the same sentiment as her, as they encouraged her to record the video and even said that they will share her video on the social media platform.

Angry reactions

Many people reacted angrily to the woman's video for not empathising with the suicidal person, calling her "sick and heartless".

"This makcik doesn't respect life at all... sial at its best la makcik wow give award someone to this makcik now!!!"

"Sick & heartless. It's a person's life she's talkin' about. Life must've been uber hash for her, not able to feel empathy any more."

[related_story]

Unfortunately, some people agreed with the way the woman reacted, suggesting that the suicidal person was just being "attention seeking".

"He (suicidal person) was simply seeking attention. If he wanted to kill himself, he would have jumped off the building long ago. There won't be a need for police intervention. That makcik was right. There are so many suicide hotlines, but you still want to be a nuisance to others."

But only one person asked the most important question:

"Bruh isn't there another way out of the hdb area. If she's really late for work why doesn't she try to find another way out. Excuses uh this makcik."

Helplines:

SOS 24-hour Hotline: 1800-221-4444

Singapore Association for Mental Health: 1800-283-7019

Institute of Mental Health: 6389-2222 (24 hours)

Tinkle Friend: 1800-274-4788 (for primary school-aged children)

Care Corner Counselling Centre (Mandarin): 1800-353-5800

Top image via video screenshot