An online petition has been created in reaction to the hit-and-run involving a Romanian diplomat.
Dr Silviu Ionescu, the charge d’affaires at the Romanian Embassy here in Singapore, is believed to be involved in the incident and is reported to be a suspect.
The driver of a car belonging to the Romanian Embassy had hit three pedestrians at two traffic junctions in Bukit Panjang. Three persons were hurt in the hit-and-run which happened on 15 December last year – one of them has since died. Dr Ionescu, who is believed to have been at the scene of the incident, later left Singapore for medical treatment back in his country. The Singapore police is investigating the case.
[Picture right, from Asia One]: Madam Yenni Young, 31, wife of the late Mr Tong Kok Wai, weeps as she is embraced by a visitor at her husband’s funeral wake.
Mr Tong was the victim of the hit-and-run accident involving an Audi from the Romanian Embassy. He was taken off life support ten days after the double hit-and-run accident.
More pictures of the victims here.
Below is the online petition:
To: The Romanian Government and the Romanian Embassy in Singapore
We, Singaporeans, are shocked and saddened by the hit-and-run accident occurred at around 3am (Singapore) on 15 December 2009 in which one person died and two others were injured.
Dr Silviu Ionescu, charge d’affaires of the Romanian embassy in Singapore is a suspect in the said traffic accident. He has gone back to Romania after the accident.
We, the undersigned, hereby request:-
(1) that the Romanian government or the Romanian embassy in Singapore shall immediately made out ex-gratia payments to the families of the victims of the said accident;
(2) that the Romanian government and the Romanian embassy in Singapore shall immediately and unconditionally co-operate with the Singapore authorities to conduct detail investigation of the accident;
(3) If the above-mentioned investigation yields prima-facie evidence that Dr Silviu Ionescu is responsible for the accident, the Romanian government and the Romanian embassy in Singapore shall immediately and unconditionally waive all immunity of the said Dr Silviu Ionescu under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and hand him over to the Singapore authorities.
Sincerely,
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Headline picture from Xiaxue’s blog.
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Credit to you Xiaxue for your good effort for a good cause which i fully support and willingly give my vote. I guess this is the best we all can do to show our concern,
Sigh!…………In other countries, you will probably see angry citizens protesting and picketing outside the embassy……..and even going to the extent of burning effigy and calling for the return of Lonescu to face the court here. But for a country like ours with meek citizens, I guess this is a good start.
Then another petition to the Romanian when this fat ass is proven gulity, to urge them for a compensation. I believe as such this would be appropriate and yield better effect of a petition.
I hope whoever start this petition can seriously consider this. Thanks
There are valid reasons why one holds a diplomatic passport but not when a life is lost! The diplomat’s country should waive the immunity and send him back here to answer for his actions. Trying him in his own country might not be acceptable to the victims’s next of kin.
Hey guys i don’t know if this is valid information but I used to work as a valet (car jockey) at Belini Grande. Mr Ionescu used to come there alot of times. Driving that embassy car of his. Anyway we have a driveback service where we drive you and your car home for a fee of $60. Sadly all the times that I asked him if he needed a drive home service he declined. Even on days when he couldn’t walk straight or reeked of alcohol. The valet company I used to work for is GN Valet. We wear the orange mandarin collared uniform and stand at the side of the road along clarke quay. Check with any of the valets there and I am sure they will say they’ve seen him before. Its too bad I couldnt do anything to stop him. (Seriously we once tried to insist on a guy who couldnt walk straight to let us drive him home. His friends came long and yelled at us and told us to mind our business. Next day my colleague who I think was last seen by the said guys friends to be insisting on our service was fired. so there u have it.)
Diplomat’s car stolen? In Singapore? Come on… they have to come out with a better story then that. Maybe he can put it that his personal driver is the one driving, not him. Put someone on the chopping board and get away from this, its more convincing this way… A hopeful citizen, at his prime age. Ended his life journey just like that… he had more to give to the country, but now…
most of the times,only the ‘guilty’ runs away.
ppl don’t run away for no reason.
when you were young, if you play ‘police and thief”,you will know what i mean.
Hi did anyone read the eye witness report on asisone motoring?
http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/News/Story/A1Story20091219-186912.html
David, the bartendar said “The driver ROLLED DOWN THE WINDOW AND SCOLDED ME. I could not make out what he was saying.
But he looked angry, shouting and gesturing, as if I was blocking his way.”
The driver then drove off.
I was wondering, if the embassy car was stolen why would a thief be so stupid enough to ROLL DOWN THE WINDOW AND SCOLD the eye witness? Isn’t he (the thief) afraid that he would be recognised? I mean if you are going to steal a big object like a car and then ramp some people off the road wouldn’t it make more sense that you should sped off even more quickly? Rather than taking the time to ROLL DOWN THE WINDOW AND SCOLD; SHOUTING and GESTURING at someone? In the first place, if I were the thief, I wouldn’t have created alot of commotion and attention by ramping people off the road as this would be too obvious and believing the efficiency of our SPF, I am sure I will be caught VERY SOON!
Hmmmm…… Are we being too observant or are our SPF & Mr George Yeo overlooking somethings here? Doesn’t it seem to them that all the statement given by the diplomat doesn’t seem to click? Seems like what Xiaoxue mentioned in her blog about the integrity of the diplomat is truly convincing.
I think things could be looking up. There are at least 3 witnesses to the incident, or accident, now: the man who managed to sidestep the charging, accident vehicle in time (landing on the opposite carriageway instead, and who was probably sworn at by the driver of the accident vehicle); the man who ‘saw’ Mr Ionescu walk out of the vicinity of Sungei Kadut; and the man, taxi driver, who said he took Mr Ionescu home from the vicinity of Sungei Kadut (and remembered that he’d asked about police report-lodging).
All 3 will probably be asked to ID him as witnesses if they’re willing to go through the whole course of investigations with the police, assuming that Mr Ionescu comes back to Singapore to aid in investigations.
There does seem to be a very good chance that he’d be charged for a serious traffic offence, but the police are going to have to do a lot to ensure that the witnesses bear true statements. So the witnesses are probably going to be grilled as well. The possibility of something like a lie-detector test is not left out.
Still, if the witnesses are certain that they’ve make true statements, such as those to the news agencies, they shouldn’t be shy about going through the whole course of investigations with the police.
the case against SI is certainly very strong. lets look at the reported facts.
1. SI claimed he and the driver discovered the car was missing at 3am when they stepped out of the embassy. This was refuted by the driver who said he was sleeping and was only told that the car was missing by SI.
2. SI claimed he discovered the car was missing at 3 am. This timing has to be before the accidents to imply that SI could not have been the driver at the time of the accident. However why then was the police call made only AFTER the accidents? If the police call had been made BEFORE the accidents then SI’s version of events would have been much more believable. As it is, the 45mins gap is cause for suspicion.
3. Can the whereabouts of SI at bet 3-4am be ascertained? What did he tell the police? At the time of his questioning SI may not have expected anyone such as the taxi driver to place him at Sg Kadut and he may have told the police that he went home. If the taxi driver or others can positively identify him, he will have to explain why he lied. On this crucial point, with all our technology, isnt it possible to look at the mobile call records to identify where SI’s call to the police originated from?
4. If SI can be confirmed to have been at Sg Kadut, then the weight of evidence is just too strong. Firstly, what reason would he have to be in Sg Kadut at that hour? And id his car was stolen, how did he get there? Also, what are the chances that he would be at the same place where the “car thief” decided to abandon the car?
5. Would any car thief in his right mind try and steal an embassy car knowing that embassies are one of the most closely guarded places? Has any car ever been stolen from any embassy?
6. Would a thief roll down the car window and stick out his head to scold a pedestrian? Wouldnt he rather lay low to avoid being recognised?
My Fellow Singaporean,
Do you belive that Mr Ionescu returned to his country for a medical check-up? I don’t think so… from the photo here, we can see that he is as fit as anyone is his 30′s. He look more like a PLAYBOY than a Diplomat.
If he is not the driver then he should return to Singapore to prove it. Why did he run away…????
Mr Ionescu, are you a coward or what, Singapore’s law don’t put a person to death for HIT & RUN case, what are you afraid of…???? come back and face it.
A life had been lost, you and the Romanian embassy in Singapore should bear full responsibility in this case… you people got no sense of guilt at all.
To #34
HEnce the ex-gratia payment, with ex-gratia as the keyword.
Ex-gratia payment are expressions of kindness and not admission of guilt. A Romanian embassy car was involved in the accident. For the Romanian government to express their concern and care to the victims and their family will go a long way in reassuring us that justice will be done… or at least paid out.
This will only reflect kindly on the Romanian government…. at least one government will be doing something. Kinda hopeless depending on SPF and PAP
I doubt if the Romanian embassy will dish out ex-gratia payments. They’ll want to see if their Romanian courts will prosecute Mr Ionescu and convict him on a criminal charge. It’s only after that that they will have to make compensation, since the accident vehicle belongs to them.
Right now just everyone pray for the driver, since he’s already made a statement to the police, and his ex-boss is probably worried that the statement made might incriminate him in some way. You know that Ionescu is a well-connected man. How else would he have gotten his current post? Who knows? He might just hire someone to bump his former employee off. There’re a lot of Romanians here, you know, and some of them look real thuggish. (Just a week or two ago, about 6-8 of them, were caught for raiding ATM machines with fake credit cards.) I wouldn’t leave out the possibility that some like them be hired to make a statement here in Singapore.
So I say, the driver needs a bit of protection.
now 18th Jan…it seem like the story will be slowly forgotten by all that a poor soul be taken and 2 other suffer.
the usual ways how we work….complain complain and after a while everybody move on.
well, it is obvious there is nothing anyone can do.
The irony is that just five years ago, a drunk US Marine Sergeant hit a taxi in Romania and killed Romanian pop star Teo Peter. The Marine, Christopher Van Goethem, was of course diplomatically immune and the court martial back in the United States was a token trial to acquit him. How many times have the US military been involved in rape cases? And how many times how they escaped punishment? If the Romanians decide to shield Dr Silviu Ionescu, I can’t really blame them.
It’s a question of integrity or honesty of the people involved.
Politicians, corporate bosses and the man in the street are all people. And some people are blatantly irrational or dishonest, and some think that they can get away with their irrationality or dishonesty.
And corruption can exist in the places one least expects.
Singapore legal and policing systems rank possibly the best in Asia. If this case cannot be constructively solved, it will put a damper on Singapore’s reputation as a state that ensures the safety and comfort of its road users. Singapore’s roads are relatively open and accessible. It does not possess open roads and country roads like larger countries. It is not a terrorism case. IT IS A TRAFFIC cum CRIMINAL CASE involving a death, a preventable one if the perpetrator had been wholly conscious and careful. To hit and kill a person with a vehicle, no rocket science is needed to prove that the speed at which such a vehicle had been manouvred must have been extreme and excessive to cause injury. Discussion on this case on the suspect / suspects’ citizenship. That is an open and shut as far as a country with a well established government famous worldwide for being objective and transparent on all its transactions that rank it close with New Zealand and Australia. It would really be embarrassing and puzzling if Singapore does not get to the bottom of this non terrorism case due to foot dragging caused by the fear of offending an official from a former economically impoverished Communist country. The integrity of the whole policing system is currently being put under the scope by the entire western and civilized world to see if Singapore truly can claim to be a country based on merits, discipline and democracy OR whether Singapore has really sadly, regressed. If the latter is so, then Singaporeans are now welcomed
Hi Fellow Singaporean,
Can someone who are familiar with creating a Blog help create one – ‘Romania, is this who you are?’. Then we all help broadcast this Blog to Romanians, feeding them with all the information about this case. But please do not give your judgement or comments, just provide the Blog link to as many Romanians as possible, let them read about the case and see for themselves the evidences of the case. Remember, in the Blog, please do not make any judgement, we will let the Romanians themselves decide if they are going to let this Dr Silviu Ionescu be the ‘image’ of who they are….. ‘Romania, is this who you are?’
Once this Blog is created, can we all please try your very best to send it to as many people as possible…. internationally, especially to Romanians. I am sure Romanians will be able to judge for themselves. Maybe they can help us tell their government to do what they think is just….
Hey Fellow Singaporean, normally I don’t care, always indifferences to what is happening to others…. never bother, bo-chap. But for this case, it is really really so atrocious .. As Singaporean, we should all help, so whatever you can… to bring Justice… we cannot just stand by the side and watch. Please… if you have experience in mobilising Singaporeans to help…. we need to bring this case to the attention of people around the world, more importantly, to Romanians, to let them know what has happened…. if we don’t help our fellow Singaporeans… who will??
Even if justice is not served at the end, we also need to let the World know what has happened… and who the Romanians are…..
No action from singapore gov don”t mean singapore not doing anything,this friend of our
will be in changi town very soon .
Since there is no extradiction treaty between the 2 countries +the defamation made. what is our PM doing, time to :-
1) oust Romanian national and romanian diplomat out of the country
2) petition world wide for immediate blockage of all romanian embassy in each of asean country and shut Romania from the world unless the government of romania starts to hold some responsibility
No extremist measures should be initiated.
We will just have to monitor the situation a little longer. We have to see whether or not our Attorney General is going to accede to the request of the Romanian Govt for access to evidence uncovered during the hearing conducted by the Singapore State Coroner. And the action of the Romanian Govt, whether or not their request has been acceded to.
come on all NATO…. no action talk only. lets face facts
1) He is a diplomat that have not conducted himself sort of morally right
2) He murder our citizens
3) He escape under the previdge of the law for genuine reasons
4) he slander our government and our people when everyone knows that Singapore Government in terms of criminal policies has been the most transperant.
talk some more also no use. are you people paying for the funeral?
even his bloody government did nothing.
If one diplomat can do this kind of action, tell me what can we do to ensure that diplomat from other countries respect our laws as much as our diplomat is respecting theirs.
This Romanian fat ass is not a human. May God bless that he himself be hit by a car or die without a proper body (zhi wu zhan shen zhi di).
I agree and simpathise with your appeal, I hope to see Ionescu on trial. We dont need anymore “diplomats” messing up with a nation’s image abroad. We also had a similar case in Romania a few wars ago, an american military officer drivind as crazy in an intersection on red light in a Bucharest street, hit a taxi and killed an artist, Teo Petter. Second day he run back to USA. Authorities should learn from this and take measures seriously. (sorry for my english)
When this bustard get arrested, they should send him for DNA test. I have the feeling that he is a descendent of COUNT DRACULA.
So far, NO ONE have talked about MOTIVE. WHY DID HE DO IT? I have not heard anyone of those softees politicians talked about motives. They and the media seemed to conclude that his drinking of some alcohol is the reason. That’s BULLSHIT ok! A drunk person would not go out to commit intentional MURDER!
Remember, this guy objective that night was to get the korean soprano to have SEX with him. He might have a few drinks but he is not drunk. This korean woman is married to a Singaporean. So after the night out with him, and when she wanted to go home to her husband and not go have sex with him. His ego turns to jealousy and rage. So much rage that he wanted to kill some people – some singaporeans. So he come across a red traffic light and see some locals crossing the road, and he rammed on the accelerator of his Audi towards those innocent people.
This guy should be charged with FIRST DEGREE MURDER, and by Singapore Law, he should be sent to the gallows and be hanged.
I hope that day would come and his neck would come off his from his fat carcass like what happened to Sadam Hussein!
Just another idea. Why not our on diplomat in Romania drove the embassy car there to slam into this guy’s fat ass. And then our diplomat can claim diplomatic immunity also?
As the saying goes, what’s good for the geese is good for the gander.