KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry is urged to collaborate with public and private universities, occupational health practitioners and mental health experts to tackle mental health issues to prevent spur-of-the-moment crime.
In making the call, Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) senior vice-chairman, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye (pix) said all relevant parties should work together to address and find solutions focusing on anger management while on the road.
“They can collaborate to develop an in-house ‘psychological first aid’ module to help employers and workers provide early assistance to those with mental health issues at the workplace or to train more personnel in the counselling field so that those with mental health problems could be identified and assisted in the early stage.
“Produce employers and workers who are able to assist and refer problematic workers to counsellors, psychologists and psychiatrists so that they can get proper treatment, and provide easy access to counsellors and psychiatrists via the public health clinics or create a module on anger management which could help reduce spur-of-the-moment incidents,“ Lee said in a statement today.
“A spur-of-the-moment crime is an offence with no criminal intent and most of the time, it involves those with no criminal record, but what triggered such a crime could be prevented,” he explained.
Lee referred to the recent road rage incident that led to the death of Syed Muhammad Danial Syed Syakir, 29, and therefore stressed that it should be a reminder to all Malaysians to say no to road rage and learn how to manage their anger.
“The incident has clearly shown how a life is lost just because of a spur-of-the-moment action and reaction.
“A minor accident or a small mishap could always happen but we should never allow our emotions to take over. If we cannot control our emotions, it may result in road rage and end with death or imprisonment as what has happened in the latest incident,“ he said. — Bernama
