Agus Maryono, Purwokerto – In the past two years, at least 137 people in the four regencies of the Banyumas area of Central Java have committed suicide by hanging themselves because of frustration arising from poverty and prolonged sickness, the area's police chief said.

Banyumas Police Chief Snr. Comr. M. Ghufron said recently that the deceased were residents of Banyumas, Cilacap, Purbalingga and Banjarnegara regencies.

Ghufron claimed most of those people came from poor families and said that, "because of frustration and desperate feelings on the hardships of life they ended their lives that way. It's a bad situation and it should become our goal to stop it together."

Besides poverty, he said the people committed suicide because they suffered prolonged sickness and depression from other factors. "The main factor is economics. Those who suffered from sickness could not afford to buy medicines," Ghufron said in a press conference.

He added that suicides caused by depression accounted for only 10 percent of the total suicides. "We have cases, such as a man who hung himself after being left by his wife. So that was depression because of a domestic problem."

Ghufron revealed that the suicides were mostly committed during holidays, such as before the Idul Fitri Muslim holidays and after school holidays.

He said that during those days family members, including children, usually ask for money. "In that moment, they started to doubt their ability to meet economic demands and thus committed suicide."

He disclosed that among the 137 suicide cases 74 happened in 2007 and 63 occurred in 2008. "They are reported cases. It's possible that some suicides were not reported. So it's probably bigger than what we have revealed."