Authorities in Indonesia are partly blaming Netflix for a criminal investigation involving police here and in the US.
According to reports, on Tuesday, a 17-year-old Indonesian, identified by the initials AAP, called a suicide hotline in the US with the teenager saying he wanted to slit his wrist. The hotline then immediately contacted an Indonesian National Police attaché at the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, DC. Two hours later, after forwarding the information back home, the National Police’s Cyber Crimes Division tracked down AAP’s number and address and officers of the Child Protection Unit from the East Jakarta Police were dispatched.
AAP was found safe and unharmed.
But now the teenager must deal with law enforcement as he could be charged with filing a fraudulent police report, a crime that is punishable by up to 1 year and 4 months in prison.
According to police, AAP, a vocational high school student, told investigators that he had no actual intent to commit suicide. Instead, the teenager claimed to be “testing” the promptness of the US suicide hotline for a school paper about the effects of mental health on teen behavior, as well as testing his English proficiency.
In addition, AAP said the school paper, as well as the call to the US suicide hotline, was in part inspired by the Netflix hit teen drama 13 Reasons Why (a show that has been widely criticized for allegedly glorifying suicide).
“In the US, this would be a crime. Kids — back in the day they would do the ding-dong-dash, and now they’re messing around with call centers,” National Police Cyber Crimes Director Albertus Rachmad Wibowo told Detik yesterday.
The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) says this case illustrates why parents must monitor what their kids are watching, on Netflix or otherwise.
“Parents must choose films that are educational for kids so they stimulate the positive aspects of a child’s growth,” KPAI Chairman Susanto told Detik.
Despite AAP’s potentially criminal act, the teenager’s story actually highlights Indonesia’s own lack of an established suicide prevention hotline. In 2010, the government set up such a hotline, 500-454, but the service was discontinued in 2014 due to lack of callers. In 2017, the Health Ministry announced that suicide prevention help is available through the 119 national emergency hotline. However, a Tirto journalist recently called the number only to be told that the service did not cover suicide prevention.
If you or anyone you know is suffering from depression and/or contemplating suicide, you can get help from several local NGOs dealing with mental health and suicide prevention, such as saveyourselves.id.
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