Mr Hartanto Widjaja, an Indonesian and a final-year student at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), plunged 4 floors to his death. Reports state that on the 2nd of March 2009, he was having a discussion with NTU Professor Chan Kap Luk about his final-year project when he suddenly pulled out a knife and stabbed the professor in the back before slitting his own wrists, running one story down and climbing onto the roof of a bridge that connected the building he was in to another opposite. He then fell off the glass roof and plunged 4 storeys to his death. Fortunately Professor Chan is in stable condition.
Picture Source:
http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20090303/ntu-widjaja.jpg
Why did Mr Widjaja do this? The answer was that his scholarship had been revoked two weeks before this incident happened. He had been warned three times to improve his grades but he would not try, resulting in his scholarship being terminated. His Grade Point Average had fallen below the 3.5 mark which is lower than a B.
Anyway, how did he sneak a knife into the campus in the first place? Does the campus have such low security that you can sneak in any weapon you want? If that could happen, a terrorist disguised as a student could sneak in a bomb and blow up the entire school.
Just because your scholarship has been terminated, does not mean it is the end of the world. Everything can be resolved; there is no need to overreact. If you commit suicide over some trivial thing, it is not you who suffer (Duh? If you are dead your suffering is over!), it is also not your teacher who will suffer (Your teacher is just your teacher. If you die, at most the teacher will just mourn for you; it’s not like the teacher’s life will change. The teacher could become so traumatized that he or she would quit but most likely it won’t affect them in the long run.).
The people who are really affected are your parents. They spent so much love and money raising you and you waste it all when you end your life. Who is going to care for them when they are old? Imagine the pain they will experience when their hard work is suddenly gone.
The person who committed suicide over a scholarship shouldn’t have done that. Come on, it’s just a scholarship. It won’t get you kicked out of school. The newspaper said so. So all of you who are reading this remember this: Do not end your life over anything. It is not worth it; it can be solved.
Source:
The Straits Times-2nd March 2009
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_345743.html
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_345645.html
I agree that no one should ever resort to committing suicide over anything. It is far too drastic a course of action to take, also one that cannot be retracted. There will always be alternative options for you to take.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, I feel that David was quite selfish as he did not think of the consequences of his actions. He just could not face the music and did not think about how his family would be emotionally hurt and distraught because of his death.
Finally, I would think that the scholarship is not what really matters, is the fact that he is not worthy of one. Because of Singapore's high pressured education system, students are trained to succeed from young, or, so to speak, be 'kiasu'. For us, failure is not an option. I think David was influenced by this mindset and could not accept failure, thus, he plunged to an untimely death when his scholarship was cancelled.
Yes, we should never end our lives for trivial matters like this as this would surely be a great impact on our beloved ones.
ReplyDeleteHowever, is it that hard to sneak a knife into a campus? I mean like, there is so many students there, do you expect them to check everyone's bag? The student could just hide it at the bottom of his bag and if hes found out, he could just make up an excuse saying that he needs the knife for some work or something.
I think that as students of NTU holding a scholarship, we should have integrity and respect ourselves.
Xue Hao
1P1 (15)