KUALA LUMPUR: A suicide attempt at the Suria Mall in KLCC here yesterday stunned afternoon shoppers and caused a sensation on social media platforms.
The bid by a 49-year-old man to end his life by jumping from the sixth floor of one of the city’s premier shopping centres left many netizens wondering what his motivation was (and if he had anything against Prada).
Some speculated that the distressed man had been jilted by a lover, hounded by loan sharks, or deeply depressed – the usual suspects.
Few would have guessed that just one hour before he stood dangling from the balustrade of Suria Mall’s sixth floor, the yet-to-be-identified man was in a meeting with the highly-esteemed Kepong Member of Parliament, Lim Lip Eng.
According to Says, Lim himself made the revelation in a Facebook post hours after the highly-publicised incident.
“We just met at my office a few hours ago. Regrettably, I was unable to accede to his demand,” wrote the DAP politician.
Lim did not specify what the demand was, but Says cites China Press in reporting that the man had wanted the MP to accompany him to a police station to lodge a report.
However, Lim couldn’t immediately cater to the man, as he had an urgent meeting to attend. Instead, he asked the man for his contact details so that he could attend to his needs at a later time.
The gentle rebuff did not go over well with the man, who was infuriated and shouted abuse at Lim before storming out of his office. He apparently made a beeline for the Suria Mall.
Throughout the two-hour standoff on the shopping centre’s sixth floor, the man reportedly demanded to see “an MP” and told firefighters and police personnel at the scene that he would refrain from jumping if they could produce the MP for him. It is not clear if he was referring to Lim.
According to authorities who judged the man mentally ill, he also went on a convoluted tirade about his wife having divorced him and taking away their child; being hypnotised by a middle-aged woman and cheated out of RM60,000; facing a debt crisis; and not knowing “where to go from here.”
It was during a moment of distraction that rescuers managed to grab the man and haul him to safety – to loud applause from gawking onlookers, as well as a team of firefighters who had stretched out a safety net on the first floor.
It is not clear if an investigation on the incident has been launched; and what, if any, role Lim would play in it.