0	1	Hong Kong, suicide, Facebook group

In addition to interacting with friends, Facebook is a utility that can be used as, among others, event organizer, advertising platform and accessory to penalize misbehaving employees.

In Hong Kong, a group created a Facebook group that encourages teenagers to commit suicide. Police are now tracking the creator of the group “I have to practice suicide” after a member reportedly tried to kill himself way ahead of the supposed mass suicide schedule of December 21. I wonder why the 190-member group - already removed from the popular social networking site - has to commit "suicide" on my birthday.

Reports surfaced that the group was built just to talk about ways to die “in a retarded way” such as jumping off a chair and not from say, a 53^rd floor apartment. “I'm not encouraging suicide. It's supposed to be an inside joke,” the creator said, insisting that the group is more about comedy than a quasi-euthanasia group. Retarded indeed.

You think police are over-sensitive and could have treated the case as a joke? Hong Kong's suicide rate of 17.4 per 100,000 people (2005 figures) is above the world average of 14.5 and is no joking matter.

Hong Kong has been in the headlines for various cases of suicide. A teacher leapt to his death from his 22^nd floor apartment,  a depressed woman jumped off the MTR tracks and that prompted calls for further installation of “suicide-free” platform screen doors. A mother and her two young children were involved in a murder-suicide in their Tin Shui Wai home last year.

Charcoal is one popular suicide accessory and the charcoal you buy in supermarkets is clearly marked with encouraging words about  life and charcoal  is meant for barbecue and not for inhaling. Special websites intended to prevention of suicide are available.

So the next time you start a Hong Kong Facebook group with the word “suicide” in the title, be cautious, you might end up in jail, get fined or become subject to a lengthy counseling session.