Time for police and NTU to answer allegations in Jakarta Post article on David Widjaja

Time for police and NTU to answer allegations in Jakarta Post article on David Widjaja

Even before the investigations to the David Widjaja tragedy are completed, both NTU and the state media have already reached an unanimous verdict: that David attacked his professor and slashed his own wrists before plunging to his death.

In a desperate attempt to preserve NTU’s battered image, the state media went on a crusade to smear the name of David Widjaja by protraying him as a depressed, wayward and anti-social scholar who somehow lost himself in computer games.

Unfortunately, SPH’s reach has yet to reach Indonesia where its voracious media had been manufacturing conspiracy theories one after another to debunk its version of events.

In an article published on 14 April 2009, the Jakarta Post reported that the family of David Widjaja will take further legal action to investigate his death.

David’s family has rejected the story reported in the Singapore media , saying that the statement was based on the professor’s words only and that the director gave the statement before police completed their investigation.

David’s older brother William claimed that the family are “99 per cent sure” that David was murdered.

He also took issue with the Singapore police sending David’s autopsy report to them via NTU instead of the Indonesian Embassy as is the standard practice which raised doubts on both the legality and veracity of the report.

The family had unsuccessfully tried to meet Prof Su and Prof Chan during their visit to Singapore last week which raised questions as to Prof Chan’s persistent refusal to talk to the parents of his late student.

The Jakarta report contains a number of unsubstantiated allegations against the professionalism and integrity of the Singapore police and should be rebutted immediately to limit the damage already done to our international standing.

It has been 6 weeks since David’s death and the police has not completed their investigations. Given the intense public interest in the case, the police should step forward to reveal their findings to put the end to these baseless speculations and conspiracy theories once and for all.

The following questions need to be addressed urgently:

1. Were David’s wrists slashed as reported by the mainstream media?

2. David’s autopsy report revealed that there were 36 wounds to his body. Fourteen of them were knife-inflicted - were they all self inflicted?

3. Why did the police send David’s autopsy report to NTU instead of directly to the Indonesian Embassy? What is the usual standard practice in such cases?

4. Did David really jump to his death on his own or is there foul play involved?

While NTU has been most reticient on the matter, the controversial circumstances of David’s unnatural death continues to rag on at least in the internet chatrooms of Singapore and Indonesia.

As for the Singapore media, it will probably lose whatever shreds of credibility they have left if the case is brought up to the Singapore’s Coroners Court and the findings contradicts its original coverage.

A human life is lost. David’s family, as well as the public needs to know the truth. The Singapore media has proven itself to be most unreliable and untrustworthy. Can we trust our police force?

It is time for the police to come clean with us. Further delay in revealing their findings will only fuel more unhelpful speculations causing hurt to all parties concerned.

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