Malaysia to issue guidelines on workplace bullying after suspected doctor suicide

Tay Tien Yaa, 30, was found dead on August 29 in her rented house in the rural district of Lahad Datu in Sabah state in Malaysian Borneo.

Tay, who had started working as the head of the chemical pathology unit at Lahad Datu Hospital in February, was allegedly “mistreated [and] oppressed” by a senior colleague, according to a Facebook post by her brother last month.

The allegation – and the publicity around her death – prompted the health minister to launch a probe led by retired senior civil servants, with findings on the allegations set to be revealed by January.

“In principle, the health ministry does not compromise on the issue of bullying,” Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said in a written parliamentary reply to an MP’s question published on Tuesday, promising a raft of new guidelines to prevent workplace bullying.

Malaysian authorities typically use the term sudden death to describe cases of alleged suicide.

Attempting suicide was considered a crime until last year, when parliament unanimously voted to decriminalise the act in a bid to remove the stigma tied to mental health.