Depression may have led to Malaysian student’s suicide

Tragic end: Law was found dead in her Taiwan accommodation.

KUALA LUMPUR: A mourning friend of Malaysian postgraduate student Law Jia Yi, who was said by her friends and the press to have committed suicide in Taiwan, be­­lieves everything would have been different if she had not gone there.

Reeling in shock from the news, the friend, who only wanted to be known as Keith, said he believed that she might have been suffering from depression.

“Her parents supported her stu­dies. But she’s an independent girl. She knew that her parents were old. She always tried her best to save money for the family.

“That’s why she worked part-time there to try to get her own living expenses and college fees,” said Keith, who was Law’s friend since secondary school.

“Everything would have been different if she had not gone to Taiwan.”

The 24-year-old, a first-year postgraduate student at the National Taiwan Normal University, was found dead near some burnt charcoal in her room by a housemate on Wednesday evening, according to Taiwan newspapers.

Taiwan newspapers, quoting friends of Law, said she had been working part time at a cafe while studying to be a teacher there and that she claimed to be “under pressure”.

“She was a very cheerful, happy person. A very nice girl, she liked to bring happiness to people around her.

“But she liked to hide her own personal things to herself.

“To be honest, I really don’t know what happened in her last few days,” said Keith.

Law’s family, through the Federa­tion of Alumni Associations of Taiwan Universities in Malaysia, had requested for privacy while they handled her funeral arrangements.