THE TEMASEK REVIEW

By Eugene Yeo and Shawn Tay

It has been nearly a week since the tragic incident at NTU in which a Indonesian Chinese student David Widjaja was alleged to have stabbed his professor before committing suicide by plunging from six storeys now.

Is this the truth of what really happened or merely a myth concocted by the mainstream media?

With no further information released by the police, the Professor involved and NTU, the final verdict on what exactly happened is still out there.

Don’t forget that the police and the forensic pathologist (an autopsy was done on David before he was cremated) are still investigating and case. The only first hand information about the incident came from Professor Chan himself who was obtained by NTU President Dr Su Guanning during his visit to hospital after Chan was warded.

Yet, the mainstream media – both the English and Chinese dailies are able to spin a nice fairy tale out of such patchy information to proclaim the verdict on David – that he was stressed out, suffered a mental breakdown, stabbed his professor and committed suicide out of guilt.

Let us revisit these 10 myths propagated by the media and demonlish them one by one:

Myth #1: David brought the knife to Professor Chan’s office.

FACT: Nobody saw David bringing a knife to the professor’s office. In fact, according to some friends of David, the professor kept a knife in his cupboard for cutting fruits. There should still be fingernails left on the knife’s handle. If David is the alleged attacker, only his fingerprints should be found on it.

 

Myth #2: Professor Chan was attacked by David when his back was turned against him.

FACT: This was Professor Chan’s account given to the media by NTU President Dr Su Guanning who obtained it from Prof Chan behind closed doors. As there were only Prof Chan and David in the room at the time of the incident, nobody knew what happened exactly.

 

Myth #3: Professor Chan did not retaliate and tried to prevent David from slashing his own wrists.

FACT: Again, there were no eye witnesses to verify Prof Chan’s claims. Professor Chan claimed he tried holding the knife to prevent Widjaja from slashing his own wrists, but Widjaja’s parents and friends did not see any wounds on his wrists. Instead, there were cuts noted on his neck. From the mess we see in the photo of Prof Chan’s office above in the aftermath of the incident, it is quite obvious that a struggle must have taken place.Whose account is correct? Who slash Widjaja’s neck? Is it possible that the injuries are self-inflicted? Could Widjaja have cut his carotid artery, a major blood vessel in the neck which caused him to lose consciousness from profuse bleeding and fell down to the ground?

 

Myth #4: David slashed his wrists before plunging to his death.

FACT: David’s family and friends did not see any injuries at the wrists. There were unexplained cuts on his neck. There were no eye-witnesses at the scene who saw David slashing his wrist and jumping down to his death.

 

Myth #5: David was depressed and traumatized over the termination of his scholarship.

FACT: David was informed of the scholarship termination way back in January. His family told him it was okay and they will continue to support him till his graduation. There was no evidence to suggest that he was depressed or troubled till a week before the incident when it was reported that he stopped talking to his friends suddenly. No record in Student Counselling Centre about his attendance. A close friend of David said: “I was his roommate for 2 consecutive years during Mathematical Olympiad training camp. He almost did notqualify for IMO, only managed to get at 14th rank from 15 people selected. He still joked and laughed to me at that time. He also did not get anything
from IMO and still fine, not seemed depressed.”

 

Myth #6: David was angry with his professor for failing his Final Year Project.

FACT: The project is not due to be submitted yet. The Professor does not have the right to release the result prematurely to David. He will only be informed at the end of the school term. It is also NTU policy not to inform the student about the grade which they got before release of the result. David’s brother and friends described him as a quiet, soft-spoken and polite man who seldom get angry. They find it hard to believe that he actually took a knife to stab another man.

 

Myth #7: David beared a grudge against his professor and was planning to kill him.

FACT: David was still playing Hammerfall game in Facebook at 2 am on the day of the incident. A friend saw his Facebook account online. If the attack was premediated, he would probably be planning how to carry out his plan. According to one of his friend in an Indonesian forum, he was seen carrying a backpack fillled with books before the incident. Why would somebody bring his study materials along if he really wanted to kill his professor and then ending his own life? The above photo shows David’s room in NTU hostel, do you notice anything amiss?

 

Myth #8: David was a loner with few friends.

FACT: David has many close friends in both real life and cyberspace where he is a well-known gamer using the moniker “Majin”. Friends described him as a kind, helpful and sincere friend who is always willing to lend a listening ear to their problems. The above is a screenshot taken from “Destiny” where gamers pay tribute to David. Note the big words “We love Majin”. Read the comments left here by his fellow gamers. Do you still have the impression of him as a troubled youth after reading them?

 

 

Myth #9: David committed suicide after stabbing the professor

FACT: Nobody saw David stabbing the professor. The only official statement from police is: David was found dead at the scene, there was no mention if he had commited suicide. Did he fall to the ground accidentally because he lost consciousness from losing too much blood from his wounds or did he really jump down? If he were to commit suicide why jump to the roof top first and sat there? Why not jump straight down immediately?

 

Myth #10: NTU has given all the assistance it could to Widjaja’s family

FACT: For whatever reasons only known to itself, NTU stopped Widjaja’s family from meeting Professor Chan. They were told that Prof Chan was in critical condition, but the papers reported that he was in stable condition after surgery on the same day and was discharged 3 days later. NTU has no right to stop Widjaja’s parents from finding out the truth about the exact circumstances leading to their child’s death.

Based on the information we know at hand so far, we can only deduce the following reasonably:

1. Widjaja went to Professor Chan’s office on the morning of 2nd March 2009 to discuss his Final Year Project. He would not have known his grade for the project.

2. Something happened in Professor Chan’s office.

3. Widjaja was seen running out of the office.

4. Professor Chan was found to be bleeding and was attended by passer-bys.

5. Widjaja was found sitting at the roof-top.

6. Minutes later, his body was found on the ground.

 

 Also watch Indonesian TV station Okeo interview of Widjaja’s family in Bahasa Indonesia here

Some photos were taken from this Indonesian blog

(This article has been viewed 2,744 times as of 10 March 2009, 11.50am)

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