The Singaporean coroner's court has decided to halt its investigations into the controversial death of Indonesian student David Hartanto Widjaya, following its conclusion that his death was a suicide and not murder. During Wednesday's trial, judge Victor Yeoh said the results of an investigation and evidence presented before the court proved David had committed suicide. "I rejected all the evidence from the victim's family," Yeoh said to tempointeraktif.com.
David's father, Hartono Widjaya, said he was very disappointed with the verdict because the judge did not reveal this evidence as promised. "The judge preferred to use testimonies from Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU).
This is unfair," Hartono said. David's brother, William Hartanto Widjaya, said the court had based its verdict on flawed and false testimonies.
On March 6, 21-year-old David fell to his death from the fourth floor of the NTU building after stabbing Associate Professor Chan Kap Luk in the back in his office. David's parents have continually denied this theory, claiming their son had no reason to kill himself.
Your comments:
To David Wijaya's family: What do you expect from the Singapore government? There is no transparency. Understood, it is sad, but that's a fact. Singapore in fact! The authorities will protect national interests over those of foreigners unless you are a US citizen.
Anthony
Singapore
The dead person can not be brought back to life. What is left is the truth. How come six months after his death, it is still unclear of the cause. Whether it was a murder or a suicide is only two possibilities. Have the Singapore authorities done a proper job with full transparency? And cleared up any doubts that today so many people hold, that he was murdered?
Eddy Chia
Singapore
The Widjayas are facing the government of Singapore. From the very beginning they had no chance to win against the government.
Jer
Singapore
Everything that is brought to the court of justice in Singapore is based on facts and evidence. The family just can't accept that David Hartanto Widjaya committed suicide. I don't really understand what the father meant by unfair. What was there to hide? If he felt it was unfair, I do suggest we bring in a neutral group perhaps comprising Indonesians and members of the international community to conduct a independent forensic examination.
But, of course, this must be based on facts and evidence, not assumptions.
James G
Singapore
Singapore is always right. We should not argue with that.
Othman
Kuala Lumpur
I think it is very important that friends in Indonesia understand that the verdict is fair and do not get emotional about it as a fact is a fact, and in Singapore facts are based on evidence.
The family mentioned that the son was murdered. The fact is that several witnesses who testified earlier said they saw the student thrust himself off the bridge on March 2.
Not only that, it is also noted that Widjaja was searching the Internet for ways to commit suicide and murder. Text fragments gleaned from the undergraduate's laptop show he used the Google search engine to look for "a good way to commit suicide" and also the 10 most common suicide methods.
He also searched for murder methods and spent some time at a Website titled how to get away with murder.
Examination of the laptop also threw up what appears to be a suicide note. The unsigned document, titled Last Words, was created on Jan 25 and left unamended.
In the note, which begins "If this email is sent, that means I am no longer in this world," the writer painted a picture of an unhappy family situation, saying he had become *hardened' and stopped crying after he turned 16.
"I just don't have any more tears for me to shed for other people."
The writer said he had "found life much more difficult and complicated" after entering university.
The family should ask if they had at least a part to play in their son's death, judging from the suicide note found.
Had the family been pressuring him too much before his suicide? Were there other family issues which led to his suicide? Let's all be rational.
Joe G
Singapore
Joe, have you ever heard the term "hard evidence" before? Obviously not, just by looking at your comment. What you mentioned are presumptions and in a balanced and fair court system they're not sufficient evidence.
So far I haven't heard Singaporean authority take into account hard evidence in their investigations. Seems to me like they just wanted to take an easy way out of difficult problem.
Cynthia C.
Jakarta
