Choo Zheng Xi & Deborah Choo
Desperate for information on the circumstances surrounding their son’s death, David Widjaja’s family arrived in Singapore on Wednesday hoping to meet with Professor Chan Kap Lup. The Professor was David’s mentor at the Nanyang Technological University who was allegedly stabbed by David before the latter fell to his death on March 2.
On Friday, David Widjaja’s parents, brother and an uncle paid a surprise visit to Professor Chan Kap Lup’s home, accompanied by several members of the Indonesian press.
The group arrived at the professor’s condominium in the afternoon at about 3.30pm, hoping to meet with the professor to ask him about what had taken place on March 2 at his office in NTU which led to the alleged stabbing and David’s death.
Affixed to the top right corner of the entrance outside Professor Chan’s house was a small CCTV camera. William rang the doorbell and the family waited expectantly. They were answered with silence.
It was the second time that the family of David Widjaja was in Singapore. The family’s first visit was on March 3 – the day after the stabbing incident.
Expressing his disappointment, William Widjaja, David’s brother, told TOC outside Professor Chan’s house that all he wants is clarity on what took place in the professor’s office on March 2. “I just want to ask him what exactly happened in the room”, said David’s father.
In an interview with TOC earlier in the day, the family said they had also planned to meet several of David’s friends, NTU President Dr. Su Guaning, the police and the press.
David’s relationship with his friends were very good, his father said. “It’s impossible that he committed suicide by jumping down a building and he wouldn’t use a knife to stab anyone,” he insisted. “Definitely, he won’t.”
“We want to find proof that David did not commit suicide”, said William.
Earlier, they told TOC that they were paying the Straits Times office in Toa Payoh a visit as well. William said the purpose was to “clarify” certain reports carried by the local media which they felt were “misleading”. These included assertions by the media that David Widjaja had stabbed the professor, slit his own wrists, and committed suicide by jumping to his death. ”The police are still investigating this case and the results [have not been] released yet,” explained William. “So how can the media report that David stabbed the professor, slit his wrists and committed suicide?” Asked if they were considering taking legal actions against the Singapore media, William said they were not and only wanted to clarify some “wrong statements in the Singapore media.”
The family feels that many questions are still unanswered. Having received the autopsy report via the mail on April 4 from NTU, they were puzzled at why the autopsy was not sent directly to them. Asked if they had authorised NTU to collect the report on their behalf, William said, “We didn’t.” His father also insisted that the family did not give any such authorisation.
“The police only told us when they would be giving us the autopsy report,” said David’s father. “They said it would take one month.” He explained that the report should have been passed to the Indonesian embassy in Singapore and the embassy would then be the one which passes it to the family. “It is strange why the autopsy report was given by the police to NTU and not the Indonesian embassy,” said William. They were told by experts in Indonesia that the report would have to be “legalised” first by the embassy before it could be given to the family.
They have sent the autopsy report to medical experts in Indonesia. “The report mostly contained medical terms. Thus, we will seek professional help to decipher them,” William had told The Jakarta Post. The results are yet to be released.
William mentioned that his cousin knew a friend in NTU who told him that there was an Iranian girl who witnessed David’s fall, and that the family would like to get in touch with her but have so far not been able to. William, however, said they did not know if the story was true. They are also appealing for eyewitnesses to step forward and contact them.
The family returns to Indonesia on Sunday morning.
As of now, TOC has not been able to contact NTU because of the holiday. A separate notification will be put up once we have managed to contact NTU.
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Let the authorities do their jobs? Well, if only they are doing it.
If I am the family of Widjaja, I would want to pursue the case because of the wrongful, or at best ‘vague’ reporting by the MSM. In pursuing the case further, I would definitely seek to have an audience with the people that matter, and most certainly Prof Chan would be very high on my list.
There are a few reasons I would want to do this as quickly as I can. The first reason is so that their accounts would not be influenced and tainted by the continuing discussions on the topic, everyday and everywhere, by every Tom, Dick and Harry. Hindsight accounts can deviate from the true accounts as time goes by.
Secondly, I would want to challenge the accounts painted by the MSM especially when I know the victim as well as no one else knew him, as his close kin. Being family, I would be able to tell truth from lies and would want to do all I can to uncover the facts and see for myself if the reports are actually lies (or perhaps even be the truth). This will be the closure I will seek, both for the victim and for myself, and the family.
I agree with some, who felt that seeking Prof Chan out directly might not have been the best approach. I would prefer the family members sought out the Police for assistance, or perhaps even seeking an audience with him via NTU might be a more viable option. What about the doctors and forensic people?
By seeking recourse via a carefully planned target areas, we will then be able to see where the ‘red-tapes’ are, and get a better picture of the constraints that are hindering the fact-finding process. For all you know, Prof Chan might have already being told by the Police or NTU to avoid all forms of communication, or his lawyer might have already advised him not to make any comments unless with his lawyers in attendance.
One thing is for sure. The authorities are not doing their jobs, from the Police department, to NTU, to the now tabloid-leaning MSM.
Shall we ask everyone in Singapore, from the NTU staff to the police to the Ministers to drop EVERYTHING that they are doing now to concentrate on this one case? To hell with recession woes, other innocents, students at the university, ASEAN Summit, etc., etc. Please just give all your tme and energy to this ONE case. That seems to be what the people here are asking.
For those who claim to know the deceased very well, why not offer yourselves to be witnesses to the police?
senior citizen (#52),
The civil service consist of thousands of employees. What is so hard to assign about 5-10 people this task? You think such a task really require a minister to oversee it? Unless there is actually something to hide, there is no need to involve senior civil servants at all.
Hi Senior citizen,
you are probably missing the point. just because they knew the deceased well doesn’t mean they would have been eyewitnesses right?
And don’t exaggerate, no one’s asking everyone else to drop everything…you certainly don’t need to =)
Yeah, they always like to wait…. and in the mean time, many different versions of the story will emerge – until the truth is no longer sought.
Would you blame the media? They will try any means to push for sales of their papers. So never mind, just report – don’t care if the police had investigated or not (“but we have the witnesses!”), and sensationalise everything.
So, there you go – Widjaja, having armed himself with a knife, stabbed a professor, slitted his wrists and jumps to commit suicide. Nice story for headlines.
Why didn’t ANYONE in the media try to find out the missing links? Or were these silenced? Why wasn’t there any effort made by the authorities to report the TRUTH? Because it is not important? Or are they going to let the previous incidents just go down and disappear into the past?
And in the end, we just remember the “reported” and sensationalised story above –
and nothing about the trauma and shock and grief that the Widjaja family having to go through, and nothing about what could have happened to this student and how he must have suffered before taking the knife.
My heart goes out to the Widjaja family. They are the real victims.
Well, Chan chuah wai , didn’t you know? if everyone in the civil service and NTU and if everyone including ministers is a SENIOR CITIZEN, then MAYBE the entire nation will have to drop everything else to investigate this one case. Cos too old and senile…. you have to understand him.
By the fact that he can make such senseless comments proves that he is SENILE. He basically just don’t care – typical of all Singaporeans. You know – the kind of sick apathy and “ignorance is bliss” attitude? And he is talking here? Get real, why even bother to reply to his senile and unconstructive comment? He is just a pathetic old senior citizen to make such heartless comments.
I agree with “Singaporeans love to wait” wholeheartedly. At least he is talking sense.
The autopsy report is still the key piece of information. The family has declined to let us see it. They have their reasons and we respect that.
The next thing will be the coroner’s inquiry – that’s when Prof Chan is expected to give his testimony to what took place in his office.
The family, naturally, is still upset and even after a month, David Widjaja’s mother still cries when we interviewed the family. It is painful – especially with all the speculations and limited information they have so far.
It is understandable that they visited the Prof’s home to try and ask him about what had happened. They are desperate for information so as to find closure to this tragic episode.
Dear Junior Citizen and Chan Chua Wai,
Thank you for the expressed earnestness.
Maybe the strategy here is to keep up the pressure on the establishment be it the Police, Coroner, MSM, NTU, etc to do their job professionally and efficiency so that the truth will come out asap for all affected – be it David’s family or Prof and family so that they all can move on. For all we know, the prof may be waiting for the right time to express all…….I am sure he is also sadden and his life cannot be normal for quite a while. Is the establishment taking too long a time for prof too ?
NTU’s President has missed the opportunity to show compassion, care and concern – perhaps he is advised against meeting the family at this juncture ? If you want to meet, despite how busy one’s schedule is, there is still many more possible hours in a day or evening or even night! A president offering condolences to a foreigner’s family who had taken the trouble to fly in can be a good PR exercise for NTU even if he may not have the answers
In this case we have sadly a foreign student on scholarship dead , and in addition to the goodwill and help that is needed to be extended, the TRUTH must come out first, then followed by JUSTICE if there is any crime or cover up.
Singapore unlike Malaysia cannot afford to have similar stories like the murder of the Mongolian model with so many unanswered questions, and with the internet still abuzzing, and the world watching.
The internet community can be the conscience of the nation; at the same time bloggers must also set the good example by respecting each others opinion but united in the purpose of seeking out the truth and to help ease the pain of the affected and suffering – prof & his family as well as David’s.
21) smallvice_585 on April 12th, 2009 2.50 pm Dear #6 and #7,
You talk as if the authority can be trusted.. Please.. This is Singapore.. They cannot be trusted if a government affiliated institution is involved in the incident. Wake up your idea!
Tottaly Agree,
How can u trust a government that hides criminals and corruptors for their money. Tragic but very true to life how Singapore enforce anti corruption to their citizen but welcome corruptors from abroad as long as they bring their money with them.
This NTU China professor is old world school type judging from his behaviour, the “go away, don’t bother me” attitude. If he has been released from the hospital, then he is somehow quite fit to meet up with the Indo family, after all he met up with the New Paper reporter at his condo much earlier when he was discharged. The professor should now take the initiative to set up a meeting at a neutral place to sort out the allegations if any. The longer he waits, the meaner the rumour mill gets. Neither will his conscience be the better for it. Get it over & done with if this NTU professor has nothing to hide.
The Prof’s account is the key. However, maybe the Prof could not talk as the case is ongoing. Anyway, why would he open the door to talk to the family with the media entourage in tow? TOC and Indonesian media might have frightened him even more and made him not talk ironically!
Assign 5 or 6 persons? Even assigning a few hundred, the case cannot be advanced at breakneck speed. Try sending your blood samples or body tissues for tests and see how soon you will get the results. That incident happened a month or so ago, and everybody wants the “TRUTH’ pronto.
“It is understandable that they visited the Prof’s home to try and ask him about what had happened. They are desperate for information so as to find closure to this tragic episode.”
Don’t agree with you. Although it is understandable that the family is still in pain, they should exercise restraint. There are lawyers in TOC, check with them if this is a good thing to do. What if it were the professor who was dead, and that everyone goes and hound the student and his family for an answer? What would the police do?
13/4/09
TOC well done on this article. Perhaps, his dad can commence a legal action which I think he can afford and all the truth is out (perhaps TOC readers who are lawyers can comment on this)
Regards
Andrew Chuah
how fair is the Singapore System?????
What this episode needs is a “Deepthroat”, someone within the administration who is privy of the NTU management’s intentions and “leak” it to TOC or similar – definitely not to the mainstream media. We already have the true story of how Dhanabalan was slapped and it is now recorded for posterity in a hardcover book, although the source if the narration was never revealed. Perhaps Widjaja’s family should put up a reward for information relating to the happenings in the professor’s room. Even nuggets of information like how the professor keeps a knife in his room for cutting fruit goes a long way.
Even if the case is still ongoing (is it? doesn’t seem so) and let’s say people involved (NTU, prof, witness) are discouraged to talk too much, I still think the reaction and attitude of NTU and prof are just too strange. If I were the prof, I would meet the family, at least the parents, to tell what happened. That is, of course if I don’t kill their son.
Despite the right or wrong issue of the family visiting the prof’s condo (I think the fam are desperate coz no one seems to willingly give explanation), I think having the press with them is a must. Y’know, as a witness. Otherwise, who knows what the prof will say, maybe another attack by David’s family…?
Dear post # (67) Geraldine,
Where can one buy a copy of the said hard cover book ?
Thank you.
Indonesian news has news already from those medical experts. Autopsy said, that David got at least 36 stab and slash wounds mostly at his wrist, 14 of which are made by knife, including one at neck, and some inner wounds and bumps.
Geraldine, I think the prof keeps the knife in his office to threaten kids who do not hand in their assessments on time, or who are lazy.
About the slapping of Dhanabalan, it was recorded too that people saw a whole palm imprint on his cheek. Wow…that must be a really very tight one. *Ouch*!
Curious, try Times the Bookshop. I think it made it to the best sellers’ list.