David's Mysterious Death

On 2 March, David Hartanto Widjaya, an Indonesian studying at the Nanyang Technical University (NTU), Singapore, was found dead at NTU’s campus. According to the local Police report, David jumped from the fourth floor of the campus building after stabbing his Mentor Professor Chan Kap Luk.

However, David’s family and supporters do not believe this report; they always maintained that the circumstances surrounding his death were suspicious. So they have filed a request with the Coroner Court in Singapore to determine the actual cause of death so that the case can be heard at the Criminal Court.

On 29 July the Coroner Court ruled that the cause David’s death is Suicide, and the family was very unsatisfied. But unfortunately, they cannot appeal the Court’s decision. So they criticized the Indonesian government for not doing enough to ensure a fair trial. Their lawyers, among others O.C Kaligis, accused the Foreign Affairs Department of failing to assist the family and said that they intend to take the case to the International Court of Justice(ICJ) or the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In this regards, Foreign Affairs Minister Hassan Wirajuda said that it would be impossible to bring the case of David’s death to ICJ and the ICC because both courts only handled cases such as Genocide or disputes between states. Moreover, Indonesia was not even a state party to the ICC because it had not ratified the Rome Statute.

For details on the above, please click here, here and here.

Considering the above, I felt very sad that David's death is still misterious. Although our government cannot intervere with the legal proceedings in Singapore, however they could at least make verbal statement that show support to the family in their quest to unconceal the mystery of David's death. This would at least make the family felt a bit stronger.

Photo: Courtesy of Facebook

David Hartanto's case

Three months have passed since the Singapore Police announced that David Hartanto Widjaja, Indonesian student at the Nanyang Technical University (NTU) committed a suicide after stabbing his professor Chan Kap Luk, however the case is still unclear.

The Jakarta Post reported that David’s family has challenged the above Police findings by submitting a request with the Singapore Coroner Court last April to examine the real cause of death. Only if the said court finds that it was not a suicide, then the case will be forwarded to the Criminal Court.
However, David’s family felt that they have not been treated fairly throughout the court proceedings. And on Wednesday 24 June the case entered the third session of trial at the court. David’s father, Hartono Wijaya, said the NTU had presented 22 witnesses, plus four more shall be presented soon, while David's family has only been given opportunities to present four witnesses, out of nine names they have submitted. The family is facing difficulty in finding witnesses other than David's relatives & friends. People at NTU were reluctanct to give information.
Beside that,the family's request that David’s laptop and digital hard disk be returned to the family was also denied.

According to O.C Kaligis, an Indonesian lawyer who advocated the family pro bono, the Coroner Court proceedings have only focused on how David tried to murder the professor, but they never analyze the cause of David’s death. Pictures that show his deep wounds were never exhibited.

Considering these unfortunate facts, the family plan to bring two forensic experts from Indonesia who had analyzed David’s body based on the Singaporean doctors’ forensic report and pictures of his body.

Photo:BigFoto

The truth about David's death

More than one month has passed since the news media in Singapore reported that an Indonesian student at the Nanyang Technology University (NTU) i.e. David Hartanto Widjaja, has committed a suicide after stabbing his Professor, on 2 March 2009.

According to VivaNews, until now David’s family still does not believe that David committed a suicide, and therefore questioning the real cause of his death due to the following reasons:
1)The Singapore Police did not state that the cause of David’s death suicide
2)The Singapore Police gave the forensic autopsy report through NTU, in stead of through the Indonesian Embassy there
3)The forensic autopsy report shows 36 stab wounds, including 14 sharp objects wounds on David's body
4)According to forensic expert i.e. Dr. Mu'nim, the Forensic Report was not legitimate because it was not legalized by our embassy in Singapore
5)David’s death was followed by the death of two NTU’s research staff working at the same department David studied;
6)David’s family was not allowed to meet the stabbed Professor, and the Dean of NTU;
7)The Singapore Police does not allow David’s family access to David’s lap top and mobile phone which could lead to the real cause of David’s death

In this regards, David's family have requested the government of President SBY to support them in their effort.

Further, in order to find out the truth, David’s family has hired a Criminal Lawyer in Singapore i.e. Sashi Nathan, to take legal action with the legal authority in Singapore. For which purpose a hearing shall be held at the Coroner Court there on Wednesday, 22 April 2009.

Considering the above, I hope that the Court Hearing would reveal the truth behind the death of David so that the mystery would solved soon.

The Mistery behind David's death

10 days have passed since the news media reported that David Hartanto Widjaja (21), an Indonesian student at the Nanyang Technology University (NTU) Singapore, committed suicide after stabbing an Associate Professor.

But until now, the case is still a mystery because 5 days after the tragedy, a Chinese national working on an NTU project i.e. Zhou Zheng(24), was found hanged on the campus. This that the fact that he and David shared the same laboratory have led to speculations about possible connections between the two suicide cases.
Beside that, there has been growing doubts in the blogosphere on the reliability of the reports made by the Singapore based news media.
Sgpolitics.net wrote that Today, Channel News Asia, Asia One and the Strait Times have misrepresented critical information in their stories which led to distortion of the truth about David's death. Here is his elaboration:
Edwin i.e David's friend and some other Indonesian students on the night of the incident had spoken to David’s parents who told him that they had seen the body and found no wounds on David’s wrists. This means that media reports about the wrist wounds were untrue.
Edwin also quoted the parents as saying that there is a slash wound on the neck
David's brother, William, said that the Police told him that there is no wrist wound and also told him not to trust the news media.
NTU's official press release said that David had fallen off the building, but Channel News Asia reported that he jumped off the building!
OMY reported that David had attempted two suicides, but no concrete facts mentioned.
The Straits Times reported vividly about how the struggle took place based on
testimonies of friends of Associate Professor Chan Kap Luk, including what
happened in the professor’s room, how David had stabbed him in the back, and the struggle that followed. But names of those witnesses were not mentioned.

According to Tempo, an alumni of NTU i.e. Margaretta, Indonesian, wrote in her blog that NTU students who are not Singapore citizens are forced to work extra hard to upheld NTU's image, e.g by creating patentable invention, etc.

Considering the above, The Jakarta Post reported that the Indonesian government, through its Foreign Department Spokesman Teuku Faizasyah, has requested the Singapore authorities to speed up their investigation on David's death.

I hope that the Singapore authorities would pay serious attention on this matter and the Singapore news media would seriously review their reports on what actually happened to David Hartanto Widjaja, so that justice shall prevail.

David Hartanto Widjaja

On 2 March 2009, David Hartanto Widjaja (21), an Indonesian student at the Nanyang Technical University (NTU) in Singapore, has committed suicide after stabbing his Professior i.e Chan Kap Luk (45).

According to the Strait Times, David stabbed the Professor several times with a knife during a routine discussion to help students. Afterwards, he slits his own wrist with the knive and jumped down. The tragic incident took place one month after NTU revoked the ASEAN Scholarship David has received since 2005 which pays for his tuition fees at NTU and annual stipend of S$ 5,800.00. In this regards, Detik has quotted an official of the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore as saying that the stabbing of the Professor was a mistake, because he has nothing to do with the issuance of the scholarship.
Meanwhile, words have been spreading in the blogosphere that David's family and close friend have doubt on the Singapore official announcement.
According to Singapore News Alternative, David's family felt awkwardness in the case that they suspect the Singapore government has something to hide. Further, David's close friend Edwin mentioned in his blog Mista Bird about some awkwardness in this case that made him and David's family suspected that the truth has been hidden.

It is understandable if David's family and his friend have their own version about the tragic incident. However, if they cannot present evidence that can prove that they are right, then the official version will remain valid.