Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – With the glamor of life in the metropolis a constant attraction for the young and a source of frustration for those who cannot afford to enjoy it, the family of 17-year-old Yuni Anggraeni never expected that she would go that far.
"She often told me how depressed she was when looking at her friends who could buy fancy dresses or shoes," auntie Icih Nuraisah recalled.
"I kept telling her that she'd better stop dreaming... her mother earns money by washing others' clothes while her father is a construction worker. In fact, she had to drop out of school as we had no money. After that, she became so quiet," Icih said in a shrill voice in an interview with The Jakarta Post on Monday.
She was the one who found Yuni's cold body hanging by a plastic rope tied to a wooden bar inside their house in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, last Tuesday.
Yuni was only one of dozens of teenagers who committed suicide in the past five months. Data from the Jakarta Police reveals that the number of suicide cases rocketing to 71 in the first five months alone, compared to only around 20 in the same period last year. Over half of the cases are young people aged below 20 and still in school.
Earlier on May 29, Abdul Rohim, 16, ended his life because his parents could not afford to pay his school fees, while on Feb. 15, a day after Valentine's Day, Elfi Manora, 15, killed herself at school because her parents told her to quit school and marry a much older man to lighten the family's financial burden.
Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Tjiptono said that although the police still had to do more research on the motives behind the high number of young people committing suicide, preliminary investigation into most cases found that they came from low-income families.
"According to witnesses, many of them complained about financial difficulties right before committing suicide. They probably couldn't bear the hardships of life in Jakarta," Tjiptono told the Post.
Psychologist Irwanto of the Atmajaya University, who often counsels teenagers, said that while he agreed that poverty could be a major cause of suicide, it was triggered more by continuous humiliation as well as a communication barrier with their parents and teachers.
"They have no chance at all to express their feelings or communicate their problems with their parents, who are probably busy earning money," he said.
Adding that while teenagers are facing some difficulties in adjusting to the physical changes of adulthood, "the rough life in the metropolis has made them stigmatized as delinquents or criminals by adults, while at times they feel humiliated by their friends for not being able to catch up with the latest trends or fashion".