Inequality In Power Relations, One Of The Causes Of Family Suicide

JAKARTA Lack of assistance from the community and the extended family is said to be one of the causes of a family committing suicide by jumping from an apartment in Penjaringan, North Jakarta. Not to mention the inequality in the relationship between parents and children, so that recently people have often been treated with the news of their family's suicide.

The news about a family who died from jumping from the 22nd floor of the Teluk Intan Apartment, Penjaringan, Saturday (9/3/2024) is becoming public attention. Quoting Antara, they consist of EA parents (50 years) and AEL (52) and their children CWA (13) and JL (15).

It was an employee who served in the apartment lobby who first learned of the suicide after he heard a loud bang. He then reported this incident to the Penjaringan Police.

The suicide committed by a family is heartbreaking news. Until now, the police are still investigating the motive behind the suicide. However, criminologists call such cases desperate death. This happens because these families are forced to stand alone and cannot access social assistance.

University of Indonesia criminologist Adrianus Meliala said the family should be able to become a safety net in the prevention of suicide. However, the distance between family members who are increasingly tenuous in the current era makes people feel reluctant to ask for help from big families about the difficulties in life they face, including financial difficulties.

In addition, Adrianus also highlighted the possibility of a power relationship that caused the family suicide. He suspects that parents play a major role in influencing their children or forcing their children smoothly.

During the suicide, the police found a broken rope on the hands of the four bodies. The Head of the Penjaringan Police, Kompol Agus Ady Wijaya, said that EA's condition was tied in the same rope as JL, while AIL was tied to the same rope as JWA.

The inequality of power relations, including those in the family, is still in the spotlight today. Citing Online Law, Michael Foucault, who is a philosopher who is a pioneer of structuralism, said power is one dimension of the relationship. Where there is a relationship, there is power and power always being actualized through knowledge, because knowledge always has a power effect. This means, in a relationship between individuals, knowledge of himself and others at the same time can create power.

Relations of attorneys usually occur between lecturers and students, parents with children, artists with fans, bosses with employees, moneylenders with debtors, and so on.

This inequality in power relations is also said to be one of the causes of the many sexual violence perpetrated by close people, for example father to child or teacher to students. The inequality of power relations occurs when the perpetrator feels that he has a more dominant position than the victim.

Allegations about the father affecting his wife and two children also ended his life by jumping from the 22nd floor of the apartment as well as being analyzed by clinical psychologist from the Islamic University of Indonesia Qurotul Uyun. He assessed that parents have a crucial role in influencing their children to end their lives.

"If it is there, the family is compact in the idea of ending life, maybe their parents who are very strong influence their families, so that it affects their family's mindset to be negative about their future," said Uyun.

Meanwhile, a forensic psychologist, Reza Indragiri Amriel, sees the case that occurred in the apartment as containing two things, namely suicide and murder. According to the psychologist who graduated from Gadjah Mada University, the narrative of a family of suicide needs to be corrected. He assessed that people need to change their way of thinking when discussing similar cases.

"Four individuals who jumped from the roof of the apartment can be said to have committed suicide by their family (together) only if it is certain that each of these people has the will and between them there is an agreement (consensus) to commit such a fatal act," said Reza in his statement.

Reza further said that the public must open their eyes that the two children who are victims do not have their own will or agree to the incident.

"In any situation, children should be universally viewed as individuals who do not give their consent at all for suicide," Reza said again.

Reza analogizes this case with sexual activity. From a legal point of view, children who are involved in sexual activities must always be positioned as individuals who do not want and do not agree to have sexual activity.

Even children, regardless of whether they want or don't want to, intentionally or unintentionally, agree or disagree, absolutely must be considered unwilling and disagree with the sexual activity that includes them.

"So, whatever the pretext, individuals who carry out sexual activity with children universally are always positioned as perpetrators of sexual crimes. Even in children, whatever their inner atmosphere, the status of the victim is automatically embedded," he added.

Back to the free-fall event in North Jakarta. Regardless of whether the children on the incident were willing or unwilling, agreed or disagreed, still - once again - they must be positioned as people who do not want and disagree. The freefall, thus means that it must be concluded as an act that does not contain consensus.

"Because they were forced to jump, they were actually murder victims. The perpetrators of the murder are the ones who - must be assumed - have forced the children to jump in such a way," Reza asserted.

The suicide of one family is not the only time this has happened. In September 2023, Grace Arijani Harapan (68) and David Aryanto Wibowo (38) were found weakly dead due to confinement themselves in a narrow space in the Cinere area, Depok City. They are suspected of being frustrated and depressed due to economic problems after being left behind by their heads.

Shortly thereafter, an elementary school teacher in Malang Regency committed suicide by taking mosquito medicine because he was in debt. He invited his wife and one daughter to take the action.

Economic difficulties are thought to be the motive for the suicide of at least the two families. Economic problems should probably be resolved individually, but the community should have a role as one of the prevention of suicide. One of the preventive measures is the community's courage to discuss that feeling frustrated in the midst of difficulties is commonplace.

As stated by the President of the Indonesian Association for the Prevention of Suicide, Dr. Sandersan Onie, the Indonesian people are still reluctant to tell their closest people when the desire to commit suicide arises.

Suicide does not reflect a person's mental health, but reflects a person's life. It's not just about what's in it, but also about the environment and everything around it," said the man who is familiarly called Sandy.