MM Lee: what will they say of me after my coffin is closed?

From Straits Times

Accepting the award, MM Lee, 85, thanked the Rotary International president and added a wry remark of his own.

He quoted a Chinese proverb which says that ‘when the coffin is closed, then you have the final verdict’, and explained that it served as a ‘reality check’ for him.

‘When I am praised on occasions such as for honorary degrees, I try to keep my sense of proportion by recalling this proverb,’ he said to laughter from the audience. ‘After I have left the scene, the biographers, historians and editors will track my career and pronounce their verdicts.‘

EDITORS’ NOTE:

When he is still alive, MM Lee is able to control what Singaporeans say of him. The sycopantic and subservient state media worship him like God who cannot commit a single mistake. Even articles written by the foreign media had to be censored of critical remarks about him before they are allowed to be republished for local readers.

Like Mao Zedong before him, the cult of Lee Kuan Yew will eventually fade away into oblivion and before his real achievements and failures can be objectively studied and assessed on their individual merits by future generations of Singaporeans.

His “achievements” have been blown out of proportion through years of rigorous, systematic and brainless propaganda. He cannot take full credit for transforming Singapore into a developed nation. On the contrary, he should be held accountable for the many misguided ecnomic policies leading to a widening income gap, a loss of identity and belonging to the country by native-born Singaporeans and the loss of billions of reserves in ill-timed overseas investments.

The British left us their Westminister Parliamentary system of democracy which was corrupted by MM Lee to become a rubber-stamp Parliament for his autocracy. Now he had bequeathed us a flawed system of governance lacking healthy checks and balances with over concentration of power in the hands of a few.

Our citizens are deprived of economic, political and civil rights which put us forever at the mercy of handouts from a nanny state. All our institutions are under the influence if not direct control of the ruling party. Unless we become part of the ruling clique, ordinary citizens are barred from participating in the nation-buidling process.

We are “digits” in our own land of birth, labor to be exploited till the end of our productive lives before we are shipped out to some neighoring islands to perish there on our own. Though we are materially richer than many other Asian countries, we are spiritually poor. Singaporeans are amongst the unhappiest people in the region.

MM Lee’s arrogance will be the cause of his downfall. In spite of his desperate attempts to exonerate himself from any blame, his performance as Chairman of GIC is laid exposed for all to see. Figures do not lie. We have lost and are still losing our reserves built up painstakingly over the years.

While the state loses billions of dollars of public monies with impunity, more and more Singaporeans are falling below the poverty line. We were told that we cannot depend on the state to help us because Singapore need to save to build up our reserves for rainy days. When our reserves are lost, we are reassured that Singapore will be able to recoup the losses in the future. We will never be able to touch the monies which belong rightfully to us, not even smell it.

MM Lee once made an infamous remark that he will rise out of the coffin if there is something wrong with the way Singapore is run. The future of Singapore should be the least of his concern because there are many capable Singaporeans out there who are more than qualified than him or his son to govern the nation.

What he should be worried about most is his fast disappearing legacy. He should have stepped down a long time ago to give the generations after him to plot their own destiny. But he chooses to linger on and cast a shadow over the entire nation. By remaining in power longer than he should, he has done Singaporeans a great disservice. He is living on past glories and completely out of touch with the realities in a new world order.

After he is long gone, he will be put into the rightful place together with other dictators like Suharto and Mahathir who curbed the civil rights of the people and democratic institutions of the land to serve to preserve and perpetuate their political hegemony. History will be a lot crueler to you, MM Lee and it is a pity you will not be around by then to hear the final verdict pronounced on you with your own ears.

Singapore elderly can only afford $1 porridge a day

Translated from Channel 8 News:

Stalls selling economic rice at Toa Payoh Lorong 7 had seen an increase in business lately by slashing the price to $2.20 for 2 meat and 2 vegetables. Their customers are mostly from the lower-income group.

One stallholder said: “I feel very sad. Recently there was aa regular customer who didn’t turn up for a few days. The volunteers told me he had no money to eat and might have fallen to his death. Everytime he patronized my stall, he ordered only one bowl of porridge and one plate of vegetables at $1.”

 

EDITORS’ NOTE:

Why do we have so many poor, pitiful elderly who cannot fend for themselves and died penniless? Why are we Singaporeans paupers a country which has billions of dollars of reserves?

Because of this:

“Mr Lee compared this to state-funded welfare administered by officials which could be easily taken for granted. It could also end up being considered as an entitlement, leading people to lose motivation to do their best.”

- Channelnewsasia, 7 March 2009

Being taken care of by the state when one is old and jobless is an entitlement. Otherwise, why should we vote for the PAP?

Did we vote for a government to lose billions of our precious reserves to bail out ailing overseas banks?

Is it an entitlement for some individuals to do as they like with our country without being made accountable for it ?

Also read what Singapore Cafe says:

I wonder, is he right on this? Lets compare to other 1st world countries. Are they slacking because they have state-funded welfare? Did the people, say, the Americans lose motivation to do their best?

I think Lee is WRONG AGAIN. In fact, Singapore, with its minimal state-funded welfare, it doesn’t has higher motivation to do their best compare to other developed countries.

How do we measure who’s faring well then? One of it is the Human Development Index.

“The Human Development Index (HDI) is an index used to rank countries by level of “human development”, which usually also implies to determine whether a country is a developed, developing, or underdeveloped country.” –Wikipedia

Now, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index, out of top 30 developed countries, where do we rank? We Singapore ranked 28th.

So, can we say that, with lesser state-funded welfare among the countries, that doesn’t really give us higher motivaton to do our best??

David Widjaja’s senior Zhou Zheng hanged himself; he was seen praying and burning incense papers after Widjaja’s suicide

Translated from Lianhe Wanbao

5 days after NTU student David Widjaja plunged to his death after allegedly stabbing his professor, his senior from the same Division of Electrical and Electronic Engineering was found hanging in the balcony in his apartment at Block 101C Nanyang Heights, where staff and graduate students reside.

Zhou, from Hubei, China, graduated with a Second Class Upper Honours from the NTU’s Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department in July last year.

He started work with a company right after graduation but was laid off two months later.

After looking for a job for several months, he joined NTU as an infocomm project officer at the university’s School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering on March 2.

The police was alerted last night at 10.42pm by a flatmate who found the deceased hanging in the balcony motionless. He was pronounced dead on arrival by the paramedics. The police has classified the case as an unnatural cause of death.

Before deceased hanged himself, he was often seen burning incense papers at the entrance of his apartment. A foreign couple said they had some impression of the deceased though they do not know him in person.

“The resident of that unit always leave the door open. We often saw him burning incense papers and praying at the entrance.”

Zhou Zheng lived together with a flatmate who is also from China. The flatmate who called the police found the deceased hanging in the balcony at level 4 and was scared stiff on the spot. He quickly carried the deceased down, but felt his body was already cold and without breath.

The deceased hanged himself using a black colored plastic bag. The police found a letter at the scene. The deceased’s family had been informed and they will fly from China to arrange for his funeral.

In a statement released Saturday, NTU said professional counsellors and senior university officers were activated on site to offer support.

EDITORS’ NOTE:

This is another interpretation of the second suicide which is going around in the neighborhood kopitiams. Zhou Zheng may have “seen” the “spirit” of Widjaja hanging around in the laboratory where he worked and was traumatized. That’s why he was seen praying, burning incense papers and leaving the door of his unit open. He may have committed suicide because he was unable to stand the sight of the apparition. According to Chinese folklore, human beings who died violently, prematurely or unjustly often linger around at the place where they spent their last days. They have to be “chao1 du4″ by a Taoist priest within 49 days to soothe their grievances so that they can be reborn into a better realm of existence.

BREAKING: David Widjaja & second suicide victim Zhou Zheng were from the same lab!!!

By Eugene Yeo and Shawn Tay

They say lightning doesn’t hit twice on the same spot. In less than a week after the unfortunate suicide of Mr David Widjaja, NTU staff and students are put through the same traumatic experience again.

24-year-old Zhou Zheng, a Chinese national, was an Infocomm Project Officer at the university’s School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering.

He was found hanging in the balcony in his apartment at Block 101C Nanyang Heights, where staff and graduate students reside.

Two suicides occur one after another within a week at the same campus. Is this a mere coincidence or a joke played by heavens?

It appears that the lightning did strike on the same spot after all. Both David Widjaja and Zhou Zheng were from the Division of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and what’s more, Zhou Zheng worked in the same lab, S2-B3a-06.

These were the project details of David Widjaja under Professor Chan Kup Luk which had been taken down already from the NTU website:

Click here to see bigger image.

Though David’s name was not printed, the project described was his FYP according to his friends and newspaper reports.

Mr Zhou Zheng, a staff of NTU, worked as a Infocomm Project Officer at the SAME LAB as David Widjaja:

 

 

 

Click here to see bigger image.

An Info Comm Project Officer is involved in research work. According to latest reprots from Lianhe Wanbao, Zhou Zheng is one year the senior of Widjaja.

Zhou Zheng might have known Widjaja in person and it is not inconceivable that his suicide has something to do with Widjaja.

Zhou Zheng may have severe post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD from the untimely death of Widjaja, the closer the relationship he has with the deceased, the bigger the blow.

According to this landmark study on PTSD in the United States which was published in the March issue of the journal Archives of General Psychiatry this year (read article here), PTSD leads to increased suicide risk in young adults especially in the early weeks.

In my opinion, NTU should suspend classes at the Division of EEE for a week and organized counselling sessions for all students and staff by psychiatrists and trained psychologists.

Do not underestimate the psychological impact on these two suicide cases on the students and staff. Under a pressure cooker school environment, this additional stress will be sufficient to tip some over.

PTSD patients often have recurring vivid nightmares of the traumatic event or in this instance, the images of the deceased when he is still alive. Though most will resolve within half a year with appropriate counselling, 10% of the patients may go on to develop chronic depression and anxiety disorders if the symptoms persist for half a year or more.

NTU should place the welfare of its students and staff above mundane administrative and academic concerns. No amount of degrees, honors and bonuses will suffice to bring back the two lives lost. Even if the temporary disruption of classes may delay the school term by a few weeks, NTU has a moral responsibility to ensure that such tragedies do not happen again.

NOTE: A NTU student, Gabriel has a different perspective of what happened here

Apology to the late David Widjaja, his family and friends

The Wayang Party Club would like to offer our sincere apologies to the late Mr David Widjaja, his family and friends for the articles we have reproduced here from the mainstream media which appeared to give an erroneous impression of the chain of events leading to the unfortunate death of Mr David Widjaja.

We agreed that the assumptions made by the mainstream media is completely baseless and unsubstantiated. There was no evidence that David had brought a knife along to the fateful meeting with his professor nor were there any eye-witnesses of what exactly transpired in the room between both of them.

When the news first broke, we have little choice but to rely on information given by the the mainstream media. In the aftermath of the incident, we had exhorted the media to show more respect to the deceased and had repeatedly castigated them for their one-sided, biased reports.

We will do our best to address and assuage the grievances and hurt in your hearts. It must be a difficult and trying period for all of you. If there is anything you feel we should know about David or the case, please email us at wayangparty@hotmail.com

 

Eugene Yeo
Chief Editor
Wayang Party Club

Video: NTU officer found hanged and Prof Su Guanning’s email to NTU staff and students

A NANYANG Technological University infocomm project officer was found hanged in a staff apartment at the NTU campus on Friday night.

Mr Zhou Zheng, 24, a Chinese national from the Division of Information at the School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) was pronounced dead in his flat at Block 101C Nanyang Heights at about 10.50 pm.

His body, which was found hanging in the balcony of his apartment, was believed to have been taken down by a friend before police arrived.

Confirming the death, which comes less than a week after a final year student, also from the School of EEE, fell to his death after stabbing a professor on Monday morning, NTU said the university is providing every assistance to Mr Zhou’s family.

‘Professional counsellors and senior university officers were immediately on site to offer support, help and counsel where needed,” said an NTU statement on Saturday.

Separately, NTU President, Dr Su Guaning sent an email to all faculty staff and students on Saturday morning informing them that the university is ‘deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Mr Zhou’ and that his family has been notified. It is not known if the family members are in Singapore.

‘We are doing our utmost to help his family and friends, residents at Nanyang Heights and anyone in the NTU community that may be traumatised by what has happened in our campus this week,’ said Dr Su.

‘We shall rally together and pull through this difficult period.’

On Monday, David Hartanto Widjaja, 21, an Indonesian student whose scholarship was terminated, stabbed Associate Professor Chan Kap Luk, 45, in the back during a discussion in his office at the NTU campus, then slit his own wrists before fleeing and falling four floors to his death shortly after.

Prof Chan, who suffered injuries to his back and right hand, has been discharged from hospital and is on medical leave.

Source: Straits Times

 

Professor Su Guanning’s statement to NTU staff and students (thanks Janet for the email!)

Dear Faculty, Staff and Students,

It is with a heavy heart that I inform you that one of our colleagues, Mr Zhou Zheng, an infocomm project officer was found to have passed away in an apartment at Nanyang Heights at about 10.50pm on Friday, 6 March 2009. The Dean of Students, the university counselling professionals and other senior university officers were on site immediately to offer support and counsel.

The university is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of one of our staff. Mr Zhou’s family has been notified. We are doing our utmost to help his family and friends, residents at Nanyang Heights and anyone in the NTU community that may be traumatised by what has happened in our campus this week.

The university board of trustees, management and the NTU community, send our heartfelt condolences to the family of the late Mr Zhou. We will extend every assistance to the family to help ease their pain.

We shall rally together and pull through this difficult period.

DR SU GUANING
PRESIDENT

EDITORS’ NOTE: Dr Su, you must have made a mistake. Mr Zhou Zheng did not “pass away” of natural causes. He committed suicide by hanging himself. Both Zhou Zheng and David Widjaja are from the Division of Triple E. What is happening? Lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place, let alone in less than a week!!

Letter from reader Wendy Halim re: David Widjaja

Dear admin,

Now all his friend wants is his name being cleared from all baseless accusations until Police department report their finding in 3 weeks time. Why all media said it is his fault when Media do have any evidence again him. They just hope the late name being cleared first. Most of them are not allowed to speak up to the media by NTU so i am not surprised that they keep silence.

Some of them did not think Singapore’s Media is credible and reliable anymore because “all” Singapore Media said it was him who stabbed his professor. Please be reminded, no body in the room, no body saw what really happened. Police and his parents has confirmed that there is no slit wound on his wrist but his parents saw the late’s neck was wounded by knife (so is he the victim or the culprit?).

If you have any proof that he is the culprit then i can’t say anything but now media do not have any proof. NTU never said he is the stabber but believed he was. What wonder me is whe all media deleted the word “believed”?
but i do not think Singapore Media would apologize to the late for defamation as i have wrote email to many news editor and none of them reply me.

Sgpolitics.net reply me but made no commitment to alter their statement or apologize to the late, his family and friends. Sgpolitics.net just reply with a message said,”thank you for alerting us, we will be more cautious in the future.” what is this? You have destroyed his character and now just said that? don’t you guys know how pain is their parents and close friends heart when you guys said he suicide because of depression or mental problem or even scholarship issue??? All the claims has been rebuffed with a good evidence and witness. This is also a reason beside others why David parents reject all interview with Singaporean Media. You guys kills his character in the media, made him like a lunatic killer.

I hope for justice and freedom of speech, Singapore Media can alter their statement and apologize. If there is really an equity or fairness or objectivity in Media, I hope Media can go along with it.

 

Regards,

Wendy Halim