Story State Silence: The Price of Disappearance in Lands Where Suicide Doesn’t Exist

[TheVanishingPoint]

In various regions across Asia, Africa, and other areas where suicide is viewed as a moral or religious disgrace, informal and widely practiced methods exist to alter the official cause of death. In the case of Indonesia—where I have relatives and acquaintances working as officials on the ground—these practices are anything but rare. Due to strong cultural and religious stigma, suicide is often concealed. Families pay to have the death recorded as cardiac arrest, accident, or another more "acceptable" cause. The cost of this "service" varies significantly depending on the region: in some areas, 1,300,000–1,800,000 rupiah (roughly €70–€100) is enough to "convince" a doctor to alter the death certificate. In more regulated or urbanized areas, the price may double, as both the doctor and local authority or civil registry officials must be compensated. In the most remote villages, costs drop dramatically—just a few euros may suffice, thanks to a network of mutual silence and established practices. In some Indonesian provinces, these operations occur almost automatically if the family has the right contacts or can afford a modest sum. None of this appears in official records, which is why suicide statistics in the country remain extraordinarily low—yet profoundly unreliable. In the poorest regions, where not even small bribes are possible, it sometimes happens that the family prefers to dispose of the suicide victim's body altogether, abandoning it in forests or remote areas where wild animals erase every trace: nothing gets registered, and the death vanishes in silence. Not surprisingly, the Indonesian state does not publish any reliable data on the number of people who go missing each year, leaving a massive statistical void that conceals both hidden suicides and disappearances that are never reported.




Officially, Indonesia reports only about 2.4 suicides per 100,000 people each year — which, with a population of around 274 million, amounts to roughly 6,500 reported suicides annually. These are usually only the cases that cannot be concealed, often because they occurred in public spaces or were witnessed, making cover-up impossible.

 

[myucore]

In various regions across Asia, Africa, and other areas where suicide is viewed as a moral or religious disgrace, informal and widely practiced methods exist to alter the official cause of death. In the case of Indonesia—where I have relatives and acquaintances working as officials on the ground—these practices are anything but rare. Due to strong cultural and religious stigma, suicide is often concealed. Families pay to have the death recorded as cardiac arrest, accident, or another more "acceptable" cause. The cost of this "service" varies significantly depending on the region: in some areas, 1,300,000–1,800,000 rupiah (roughly €70–€100) is enough to "convince" a doctor to alter the death certificate. In more regulated or urbanized areas, the price may double, as both the doctor and local authority or civil registry officials must be compensated. In the most remote villages, costs drop dramatically—just a few euros may suffice, thanks to a network of mutual silence and established practices. In some Indonesian provinces, these operations occur almost automatically if the family has the right contacts or can afford a modest sum. None of this appears in official records, which is why suicide statistics in the country remain extraordinarily low—yet profoundly unreliable. In the poorest regions, where not even small bribes are possible, it sometimes happens that the family prefers to dispose of the suicide victim's body altogether, abandoning it in forests or remote areas where wild animals erase every trace: nothing gets registered, and the death vanishes in silence. Not surprisingly, the Indonesian state does not publish any reliable data on the number of people who go missing each year, leaving a massive statistical void that conceals both hidden suicides and disappearances that are never reported.




Officially, Indonesia reports only about 2.4 suicides per 100,000 people each year — which, with a population of around 274 million, amounts to roughly 6,500 reported suicides annually. These are usually only the cases that cannot be concealed, often because they occurred in public spaces or were witnessed, making cover-up impossible.

Thanks for the information. I'm Indonesian but I just found out about this off-record procedure. I always feel like I need to hide my plan and execution of my ctb from at least public knowledge. Might be unethical to manipulate national ctb number, but I still feel way too pressured by the stigma of it here.