Story and pictures by Deborah Choo (Read Deborah’s personal account on TOC Facebook)
Mr. Zhou Zheng, 24, a Chinese national, was found hanging at his balcony at Nanyang Heights Block 101C #04-05 last night, Friday, 6 March 2009 at about 10.50pm.
Liu Fan, 23, a Chinese national student who resides two levels below where Mr Zhou Zheng stayed, told The Online Citizen that he saw two police cars and an ambulance at the residential area when he returned to his hostel at around 11p.m. yesterday. However, he only learnt about Zhou’s death today from online news. Both he and his friend, Ji Jian, 26, who had been in Singapore for eight months, said that they had never met Zhou, or even knew who he was.
Other students and staff living in the surrounding blocks were astounded, saying they were “shocked” over the incident, but none have met the deceased.
According to students, the President of NTU, Dr Su Guaning, sent out a mass email with a brief note informing all NTU students of the incident this morning.
The school had earlier released a press statement saying:
Mr Zhou Zheng, 24, from Hubei, China, graduated with a 2nd Class Upper Honours from NTU Electrical and Electronic Engineering in July 2008 last year. He started work with a company right after graduation. NTU understands that the company sent him overseas for training. Two months into the training, he was recalled along with other trainees and was laid off with a severance package. He joined NTU as a Project Officer on Monday, 2 March 2009.
On Monday morning, 2nd March 2009, David Hartanto Widjaja, 21, from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE), allegedly stabbed Associate Professor Chan Kap Luk, 45, from the same faculty. The incident happened at Block S1A at about 10.35am in the morning.
Though both Zhou and Widjaja are from EEE, there is currently no evidence pointing to any other connections between them.
International students’ views
Mr. Yang, 30, is an international student on a one-year training programme in Singapore. He has been in Singapore for six months.
He admits that it is “challenging” for international students to integrate into Singapore society as the “ways in teaching, ways of learning, and the culture” are poles apart. Language barrier is also an eminent factor.
However, Yang mentioned that NTU’s teachers “are very helpful whenever we need help with assignments”. He feels that international students find more difficulties in dealing with self-induced pressure due to one’s own expectations, rather than those from the teachers.
Mr. Loh Choon Yee, 22, a physical and mathematical science undergraduate, is a Malaysian. He has been in Singapore for three years. He stated that there were no discrimination against international students, and feels that the reason of the two suicide cases in NTU within a week boils down to the individual’s “personal problems”.
This view is echoed by NTU students from China and Vietnam, saying that Singaporeans are often “friendly” towards international students like themselves.
“NTU studies are really very stressful. I feel that foreign students are very lonely sometimes,” said Ms. Tan Yi Yan, 23, a first-year computer science undergraduate. She concurred that there are no discrimination against international students.
No one to turn for help
A Chinese national, whose daughter has been working as a professor in EEE for the past two years, said that she hardly knows anyone from Block 101C where her daughter lives .
“People come and go after half to one year,” she said in Chinese, adding that there were “no activities organised in Nanyang Heights, so everyone basically kept to themselves. Neighbours seldom talk.”
International students TOC spoke to mentioned that there are activities organised once in a while for the purpose of “bonding”, but many find it difficult to attend due to mounting schoolwork. Most local students TOC spoke to agree on this.
Mr. Loh, however, disagreed. He cited a friend who has faced family problems and turned to the counselling unit for help. He revealed that his friend is doing well now, and believes that students should approach them when they face difficulties.
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Read Deborah’s personal account on TOC Facebook
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Chech out this website justlimz.blogspot.com for the true story
Why is the people in NTU so cold, seldom talk to one another?
Is this the culture there?
People are afraid to talk?
If so, what are the causes that have bred such a culture?
How can a university, a place of higher learning, be such a cold place?
Human social interactions are the most important towards a more holistic learning environment.
If an university is so cold, then it cannot be a good university – this is what I believe.
To #2)
If I am not wrong, the place where the China guy died is a residence for foreign graduate students and staff only. It is different from undergraduate hostels where there are a lot of activities and such.
Ii can get spookily quiet. I am not sure whether there is a RC like committee to liven things up. Even if there is, many of them will not be receptive. I am not sure why this is so but many of them seem content to live in their own world. Is it a case of difficulty in culture adaptation?
I personally think that the high foreign to local ratio in graduate students is too unhealthy to breed a happy chatty research environment.
Sounds like the HDB Phenomena of social exclusion has been claiming victims in NTU’s dormitories. Btw to call the dorm Nanyang Heights is an insult to Nantah.. NTU is not Nantah
Yes, NTU is not Nantah.
The difference betw having a system in place and reality is ….
Unfortunately, this incident has to happen. I hope the relevant authority do something and help intl students get accustomed to the local culture
The root problem: too many China students!!
To #2)
It’s irresponsible to make such baseless comments if you dont know anything about NTU. Coming from NTU, I definitely do not feel people in NTU are cold. They are generally friendlier than the typical singaporean. I would encourage you to find out more about NTU before letting off such remarks.
Cheers and have a nice day.
To Peter Lim: Your view is so narrow-minded. Maybe he was just another victim?
OMG #2….that was really really baseless….i come from ntu and i made so many frens in the 3 years i have been there…..please…..dun come and criticise NTU if u r not from that uni….. thank you
Bah. As shallow as ST article. Any interview of colleagues? Did the guy have a girlfriend or boyfriend?
NTU SUCKS! Period.
I would advise anyone who is really really really interested in their persuance of a good degree to give this university a miss. Seriously… Things happen there.
This ‘murder’ thing is just a blow up of the many strings of “Unfortunate incidents” that has happened to this school. Sars, Professor -multiple mistress relationship Triangles, Security guard suicides, Student suicides, Plagerism, etc. etc. And to think of it, ALL OF THEM ARE CHINA, INDIA, INDONESIAN, ANG-MOH AND OTHER FOREIGN NATIONALS! I hope they don’t work here after they graduate. They will just cause more problems to the economy. Who did you think caused this depression in the first place?
I recently worked with a guy from NTU. He was supposedly the NTU mathematics olympaid gold medalist or something. However, when he reported for his first day at work. I was shocked to the point of disgust at the sight of his uncannily long hair. Seriously, if his back was facing you, you would think that he was a woman! PLUS! HE STINKS REAL BAD!
As far as I am concerned, NTU is a place of weridos, lamers and losers. A place where viruses and garbages of society are bred. The hostels are always noisy, damp and stifling, and their so called “activities” are nothing but noisy “romps” on the bed while other students are sloughtting away in the middle of the night during weekdays. Undoubtly, it is a BAD university.
So seriously, if you are really considering a PROPER, WELL-RECOGNIZED edcuation, don’t go to a POLY-UNI where students are expected to behave as if they have less than half a brain. And if you are smart, you would look the other way and run without looking back. NTU was condamned right from the start, and as far as I am concerned, looking at how things progresses, will continue to be condamned in the future as well.
Ref: 13)
I think we should stick to main topic, instead of the smelly NTU guy. :)
Anyway I do think that university life is no different from society life ie backstabbing among students for self-interests do exists and sometimes I think it will be better if everyone stays to themselves rather than antagonising others unknowingly. Yes Singapore culture is different from others and foreign students definitely will find it hard to integrate into our society, but that’s life. When in Rome, do what the Romans do. The foreign students themselves need to take an initiative to learn Singapore culture since they’re here in Singapore, instead of the other way round. If they can appreciate our ‘Singlish’ culture, then there won’t be so much unfortunate cases.
I cannot comment on the ambience of NTU as I have no knowledge of this place.
But, some universities are cold places.
I lived in a student hem or student home or the the Swedish version of the hostel. It is just that you pay your rent and you get a room. It is a mixed place and your neighbours can be women.
The only person who is in charge is the husfru or housekeeper.
You live and study and if you like you work and that your business.
The Swedes are hang of a tolerant and if you have a girlfriend you can ask the husfru for a mattress and if you like you can sleep on the mattress and she sleeps on your bed.
Ambience. There is no ambience.
You are a tenant and the landlord is the student’s union. That’all’
It is not like Oxbridge where there’s the master of the college and the fellows and you are in a community of scholars.
And yet there is no suicide or peculiar behaviour in the Swedish student hem Not that I know of.
Can we learn fro the Swedes?
Perhaps, Singapore is trying to style itself after the Oxbridge system and that it does not work here.
Let us look at students’ hostels in other countries and see whether under poorer conditions there are more cases of suicides.
I do not think so as the young people like to be left on their own and they would interact and have lots of fun.
Reading the comments from the hostelites of NTU in this blog I get the impression it is a whole lot of sick ‘hostels.’Why? I do not why? I am not there. I am writing from Indochina.
Seriously, have any of you seen the typical NTU dorm? Or for NTU grads, have you ever compared your dorms with other unis and top foreign unis? The dorms are a pig sty!! Worse than even army camps! They are no different from slums and foreign worker quarters. I was helping a friend, an NIE trainee, move in, and was disappointed at the living conditions. In the end he chose NOT to stay in.
I am a graduate student at NTU and I have to admit that I am disappointed at the increasing amount of spurious nonsense that finds its way to these boards.
I have noticed a disturbing amount of xenophobia on these boards too of late, rather like you find #13 spouting. It’s always the foreigners isn’t it? That influx of foreigners that repair your roads, build your MRT extensions etc. Those second-rate Chinese that you despise as if all the previous descendants to these parts were first-class Chinese? Those ang mohs who you blame for the economic recession and financial mismanagement – oh how convenient it will be to have white whipping boys you can drag out whether its true or not.
I don’t think that the sun shines out of the western world’s arse either but I resent being treated consistently as “other” by some Singaporeans. I especially resent it when the official media or MM’s stooge, Mahubhani, go out of their way to portray westerners as immoral or conniving Shylock-type figures.
For all those sanctimonious Singaporeans out there, yes foreigners sometimes do find it tough to adjust to new places. That is to be expected, yes? And Singapore is stressful, NTU is stressful – the rat race, kiasu and arbitrary elements of the school’s rules as well as the fact that you are consistently treated like a child take their toll. They pile on a lot of work that is frankly unnecessary – I have wasted far too much time on second-rate piffle they use to fill up their course requirements. Stuff which they then take attendance for — utter nonsense as far as I am concerned. Some of us can handle it, some can’t. I can – but I have a strong personality, a good network of friends here as well as back in Hong Kong to support me when things get a bit much.
I do not think it is a bad school academically though of course I cannot speak for all the departments. The campus is rather impersonal though and the neighbourhood surrounding it equally uninspiring. Singapore is a depoliticized, socially engineered society – so this doesn’t particularly surprise me. There is no place on campus for serious debate, for politics, for culture, for music. There isn’t even a decent place to get a glass of wine.
Meanwhile, the so-called student newspaper poo-pooed the idea of students having fun in any way in a recent issue. Prior to that they evidently invited a local member of the Chinese Taliban to guest edit the paper who obviously had a bee in his bonnet about students and their ‘public displays of affection’ on campus. Cue more hand wringing about foreigners and the implications about the evil western media. Bizarre, truly bizarre.
The school should be doing more to integrate foreigners – some of us in fact happen to be very bright. So please lets disabuse the notion that we are all second-rate. And if some of us are second-rate, I am sure we can find some ‘second-rate’ Singaporeans in the US, Canada, Australia, UK , China etc. Don’t think that the good people of those countries are thrilled with all the foreign talent either.
But we foreigners are different from Singaporeans and there is nothing wrong with that. Its funny that a lot of the comments too essentially tell us ‘when in Rome….etc’ – because that’s exactly the same thing our International Student Centre tells us. Its patronising and not very helpful. And just like the government here, often painfully didactic in their approach.
Now, the thing is before you inevitably tell me to go home if I don’t like it (no doubt you would find that offensive if you are abroad), I happen to LIKE Singapore. And I happen to like a great deal of Singaporeans as well.
By the way, I am aware of NTU’s previous Nantah past – it sums up everything that is fascinating about this place. Disturbing yet fascinating – how can a city-state that champions ‘Asian values’ and Confucius at the same time do everything it can to ERASE that heritage? You would think that life as we know it only began in 1965. And the Chinese Heritage Centre on campus is odd – there is a history there but no context is provided for students. So effectively it has been erased and redrawn.
It is also a shame that not only are dialects being discouraged, but that Mandarin is encouraged as a ‘mother’ tongue! Did most Straits Chinese come from up north? Of course not – its no more your mother tongue than if some swot decided that German was close enough for the likes of me. I swear this government is like something out of Blade Runner – once you create something from scratch you have to implant it with cultural memories.
These same people who complain about foreigners though and not adjusting – aren’t they all the sons and daughters of settlers? Do as in Rome eh? Well, then frankly we should all be speaking Malay. But that has all been conveniently forgotten.
Anyway, I digress – but I am upset about some of the attitudes of the posters on here. Two foreigners at NTU die and the usual foreigner bashing comes out of the woodworks. Graceless – just like many of the elites in this town.
Dear no #17,
Obama once said that attitudes towards foreigners are linked to a society’s well-being. If singaporeans were all well-off, successful and well taken care of, we always welcome foreigners for their new ideas and experiences.
The reality is that this government invests billions into unproven foreigners at great expense of locals. The unhappiness is natural. Every single country in the world is slamming its doors on foreigners to protect its own citizens, so don’t be sour when the people here are crying for the same. If your household is in trouble and you need to ask someone to leave, will it be your children, or your tenant?
The life of singaporeans:
- old folks begging in streets
- ruined citizens jump onto mrt tracks
- boys enter 2 years of slavery
- no welfare, scholarships, sponsorships, aid
- cold, heartless treatment from authorities
The life of foreigners
- scholarships on taxpayers’ money, plus mentoring and monitoring to make sure you are all comfy
- no NS, enter workforce young, become bosses of your former peers after they enter workforce
- for PRs, almost the same rights as citizens, minus the obligations
- authorities always talking about how you’re valued and locals must be thankful
- companies retrench locals first
We Singaporeans must not equate Foreigners with Singapore Leaders.
The huge influx of foreigners are indeed threatening and affecting the livelihoods of the Locals. But, they, the foreigners are attracted, invited to work and settle here by our government and though the foreigners do indeed love to make some fortunes here, we must admit that they work hard for it.
When one is affected in job, environment and culture by alien settlers, naturally resentment sets in. However, blaming the foreigners is not quite right, they cannot walk into Singapore as they liked and if there are illegal immigrants, that’s because our enforcements have failed.
When your leaders invite foreigners in and they(foreigners) get blamed, we must admit it is not quite the right thing to do.
Define Locals in singapore context? Aren’t we all descendants of migrants to start with?
If we were to comment tt :”The huge influx of foreigners are indeed threatening and affecting the livelihoods of the Locals.” from #19
What response should we get from the native malays/bugis tt lived on this isle even b4 Raffles arrived? That “You Stole our land! Snatched our livelihood!”
Should the new migrants decided to stay n get our citizenship, their kids will naturally blend in, becoming ‘locals’ too.
Singapore was indeed a migrant city, it gained independence from the British in 1959 and was to be a nation that unfortunately was/is not to be.
LOCALS here stand for citizens of Singapore when it gained independence.
is Singapore gained independence in 1959 to be a nation that sadly did not materialize until now. The people made of migrants who have settled down since then(1959) were/are the locals.
My sincere apology;
need to clarify that Singapore gained independence but fails to nurture nationhood(the spirit) to date. In fact the population is broken into political, racial/cultural, religious, ideological factions making the country into a fragmented society.
I thought these boards were moderated, and yet we have such comments that have no relation to the topic, without even a shred of compassion or empathy to the death of a student, regardless of his/her nationality. Instead of identifying the problem and seeking ways of solving it, we immediately blame the victims as being the problem itself. As a foreigner who has made Singapore home, I am seeing increasing amounts of Singaporeans starting to show a lot of hatred towards foreigners, especially those who come here to clean our sewage tanks, to build our roads, work in our hawker centres and construct our buildings. With those who come here to run our banks and manage our companies, we welcome them with open arms. It says a lot about the facade of racial equality that exists here.