Breaking News:
Second alleged suicide case in a week at NTU as a Chinese national at the School of Engineering was found dead, hanging in the balcony of his apartment last night.
A man has been found dead by his friends in his apartment unit within the Nanyang Technological University campus. The 25 year old, who’s not a Singaporean, is believed to have committed suicide.
His body was discovered at around 10.30 last night. An NTU spokesperson said the university’s support systems have swung into action to ensure that those who found the body are not traumatised.
Source: 933live
24-year-old Zhou Zheng, a Chinese national, was an Infocomm Project Officer at the university’s School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering.
He was found hanging in the balcony in his apartment at Block 101C Nanyang Heights, where staff and graduate students reside.
Source: Channel NewsAsia.
Separately, NTU President, Dr Su Guaning sent an email to all faculty staff and students on Saturday morning informing them that the university is ‘deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Mr Zhou’ and that his family has been notified. It is not known if the family members are in Singapore.
‘We are doing our utmost to help his family and friends, residents at Nanyang Heights and anyone in the NTU community that may be traumatised by what has happened in our campus this week,’ said Dr Su.
Source: Straits Times
Picture from Straits Times.
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Are NTU and NUS competing on who can drive more students to their death? When will SMU join the rat race too?
wow…truly shocking.
Another tragic loss at NTU.
While we may be tempted to label NTU as a hotbed for suicide, let us have a more rational discussion here.
As an NTU student myself, I am deeply saddened by the death. Can the university do more to ensure foreign students and staff have an avenue to turn to as a means of unloading their stress?
It must be noted that Zhou Zheng was a staff, not a student. Are foreigners facing great stress living in Singapore?
Many unanswered questions.
no college wants their members to die. please.
What we can seriously think of right now is the solution to prevent such thing in the future. What I think best for NTU is to create a place where anyone either working or studying there can share any single problem they have privately and confidentially. I’m not sure if such place already exists in NTU.
Let’s just say
People, let’s not get inspired by any kind of suicide done by someone else who’s done it before.
I’m not saying that I’m sure the cause of both recent deaths in NTU was a real suicide. Let’s be careful. Watch our back. Think over and over about something so problematic. Try very hard to talk about it with someone or people which also can be done anonymously in some online forums. Take the positive responses and leave the negative responses far behind. It is very hard ’cause I’ve few times thought about giving up my life myself but if you really struggle and keep on struggling you still can make it. I’m not being a hypocrite here. I have my own problems and I do cry, hit my pillow, walk out the house calming down myself, get angry, shout, blog about it, but I do sometimes just think about the problems over and over until I realize there’s nothing I can do with it. SO, when I’m in that position I just have to live it.
My deepest condolence for the family and relatives.
Terrence Lee
Don’t say unitl lke that, as if S’porean students go no stress / difficulties in coping.
Just that somehow, maybe, more resilient.
Could it have been avoided?
I guess we’ll never really know.
But what I do know is that I’ve found my closest group of friends in NTU, and have come to think of the college as a second home, as part of an extended family. It’s sad, that despite how nice people in school are, some poor staff/students see no better alternative than suicide.
I can attest to the fact that foreign students have it hard, being away from home for an extended period, sometimes finding it hard to fit in because of the language/cultural barrier, and having stereotypes against them etc. Perhaps that why it is important for us Singaporeans to reach out to them instead of griping about the way they carry themselves, the way they mess up hall kitchens (i’m sure we sometimes do too…).
Instead of establishing differences (Singaporeans=resilient v.s. Foreigners=easy to crumble under stress), shouldn’t we draw them into Singapore’s culture? After all, aren’t we all equal as schoolmates?
I don’t think it was an issue of resilience anyway. David was the president of a school club, and a whiz. If he really had low stress tolerance, he wouldn’t have achieved so much over the past 3-4 years.
Maybe foreigners just have fewer avenues to turn to? Singaporeans have family and (maybe more) friends here than foreigners would.
wow..terrible..
is it that they really depress studying engineering?
before anyone commits suicide, they shd at least not be selfish and think about how their love ones will be affected, how no one wants to go wherever they suicided before, and stuff like that. Thinking about how I have yet to give my all back to my parents who brought me up, and society, has kept my head sane from thinking all that.
In the sense of …
This has to thanks the Singapore Armed Force for putting effort to train our boys to be more resilient !! can take stress and pressure more than the ordinary folks !
Don’t you think so ?
While, rationally one must not jump to any wrong conclusion, in fact I couldnt be bothered anyway – its not that I am not sadened by anyone taking his own life – that its in Singapore that people commit suicides due to studies, working stress, or debts stress. Of course, there are people who can say other countries also do have suicides etc etc. But what for talk about other countries !
Pertinently, has anyone sit up and take note that there are many many students committing suicides which were not reported nor publicised by the MSM.
Has anyone also taken note that in recent years there were many many students seeking pyshicatric treatment ??
Please, dont blame parents, parents are only conforming to whats needed to be done to just to make ends meet in Singapore for 3 meals – and most of them has only 2 kids, but, BUT aged parents which the state dont care that much. PM recently STRESSED on individual responsibility for aged Singaporeans to look after themselves, AND the state only compliment to support, thats it. Read carefully, PM Lee said the State is not directly responsible for AGED. So watch out those who are young and garang (especially pro gahmen types) you are going to be old one day, and remember in your heart what PM Lee said.
Sorry, I may have digress a bit.
another death in 2 days or thereabouts.
what is going on in that u?
luckily, they say the got some kind of system in place.
the next thing we know, another death.
sad.
Ya this is really shocking and totally unexpected=(
Anyway, I think that people shdn’t be judging the incidents based on reports or things that have not been fully established because we never know what really happened?
I hope that ntu and the police can look into the cases seriously and provide objective and transparent reports to the student population, the family of the deceased and the public.
And things should be done to ensure that people involved (primary witnesses, families etc) are given the support and counseling needed to overcome any trauma they might face (which i believe that the school is already carrying out). Perhaps, in the near future, NTU (and perhaps other schools) can also consider having a proper system in place to educate staffs, professors and suitable students to help identify ‘signs of distress’ in colleagues or peers or hall stayers and to refer ‘cases’ that need greater attention to professional counselors in the school? This might be beneficial for people who are in distress and yet not/unable to seek help by themselves. Lastly, care should be taken to prevent copycat effect during this critical period. The media and other body of influences should be cautious and responsible when reporting such incidents.
NTU is just a stressful place. period.
14) concerned on March 7th, 2009 11.23 pm
this is not the only thingie we will not know.
and we accept. as always.
should the dean explain ?
very well said, concerned!
SEE, TRANSPARENCY. WHERE’D IT GO? DOWN THE DRAIN??
ugh. just looking at the way NTU handled David’s incident as well totally annoys me. all the information came out in the media long before the “revised” statement was made from the school -.-
and this isn’t any better. NTU students are reading the papers for information about the incident instead of hearing from their very own school. What kind of sense is there in that? What’s the point of being an NTU student when we know the same or even less than people outside?
Let me correct u #15….SINGAPORE is a stressful place, not only ntu or to mention nus….. dun blame the uni, its the culture in singapore….
In my opinion, I don’t think it is JUST Singapore that faces intense competition. If everyone were to wake up from their ‘domestic slumber’, this is happening worldwide, especially in the US. Globalisation is taking place faster than anyone can imagine and we’re facing a lot of direct and indirect competition regardless of borders and race. Downsizing, reduction of bureaucracy, encouraging transparency and openness, developing a knowledgeable workforce are some actions adopted by companies today for globalisation.
So it seems like the ONLY way to go about living in this world is to be in this mad race of competition to keep up with everyone else and strive to be better than the rest. Looking at the lousy economy right now, competition has now increased by say, 3 folds? If we don’t face this ugly truth and accept failures as part and parcel of life, how are we to continue striving and living this life full of uncertainties and challenges? There are always alternatives in life. If you were to fail, retake and do it even better. If you did not get a grade you want, do you really need or want it? Or is it because of HIGH expectations and being hard on yourself?
Ultimately, I believe it boils down to one’s attitude. If we adopt a positive attitude, we can survive ANYWHERE. But if we don’t, we’re just gonna sink in to the endless black hole of negativity. Thus if we do not conquer our attitude, it will override us.
Coming from a student who has lived abroad in France and faced intense competition, racial discrimination of being an Asian and much more, all I can say is that no matter how hard times are, we are brought into this world for a purpose and it is not up to us to decide whether or not we should take our lives over matters that may not truly matter as you move on in life.
Think about our loved ones, those who care and love us, those who brought us to this world, those who we fail to appreciate but have quietly helped us, those whom we should be grateful to.
To foreigners: Cannot tahan? Don’t come to Singapore lah.
To Singaporeans: If you do not have the strength to be here, then leave lor. Everyone also got problems mah. Deal with it!! If jumping is the best solution, please choose a taller building or use a bigger knife.
FYI: NTU does have a counselling center. BUT the people who need help don’t always seek help. However, even if they seek help, if they really want to “end it all”, there is nothing a counseller can do either. You need to want to help yourself before people can help you. Positive thinking is certainly a step in the right direction
In Singapore, there is a need to change our stressful culture. We always strive to achieve As and neglect our own emotional development. And most foreign students told me that they have never worked so hard until they came to NTU. Our stress levels seem to have a domino effect- if we see people studying hard, we feel guilty and study harder. When others see you studying hard, they panic and study even harder. Its a viscious cycle.
I don’t think there was a coverup or transparency on the part of the media or NTU. The matter is still under investigation. I don’t think it would right to issue statements based on opinion instead of facts. So we just have to wait for the investigation to be concluded and for them to issue an official statement.
Yan-Pete, the size of the knife doesn’t matter. Its where you aim for that matters. =)
Study so much also lose to FTs in the corporate world. In this case, it’s before you even finish the studying, you’re already a dead man. It all comes to nothing in the end.