William Widjaja 'clarifies' against David Hartanto Widjaja's suicide letter

It's good to finally read about the family's side of the story. Especially with regards to what it is said as David Hartanto Widjaja's suicide letter, titled "Last Words".

The family of David Hartanto Widjaja knew he was not doing well in school and that his scholarship had been revoked, the court heard yesterday, the ninth day of an inquiry into the undergraduate's death.

The family had expected this, given that two warning letters about his dipping grades had already arrived from the university, said the youth's brother William Widjaja, 24, in his testimony.

Mr David Widjaja, then aged 21 and in his final year at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), allegedly stabbed Associate Professor Chan Kap Luk before falling to his death in March.

His older brother was responding to questions about the dynamics within the Widjaja family, in the light of a forensic examination of his laptop which contained an unsigned document titled 'Last Words'. It spoke of sour family ties and an unstable financial situation, but Mr William Widjaja yesterday painted a picture of a close-knit family.

He said he and his brother had daily conversations on the online chat platform MSN, and their mother sent him daily text messages. He added that his brother would e-mail a copy of each semester's grades to him, and would return to Jakarta during school breaks and on special occasions, most recently during the Chinese New Year.

'We discuss all our problems and activities with our parents. We're a close family,' said the older brother. Asked if it would be easy for his brother to confide in his parents, he replied: 'Yes of course, we have done it most of our lives.'

But the Singapore-based youth had secrets - like the one about the 18-year-old girl he had grown close to in an online game and was his virtual 'wife'. He also kept mum about his struggles with his final-year project and with Prof Chan.

Though he scored mostly As in his first two years on campus, his grades started dipping when he became hooked on computer games. His family advised him to cut back on gaming, and he promised to, but lapsed into the habit.

Referring to his brother losing the Asean scholarship, Mr William Widjaja said it was within his parents' means to foot the tuition fees for the remaining term.

He dismissed the possibility that his brother was surfing websites about suicide and murder, saying that he had said nothing about any problems or stress in his last few months. He had in fact been 'talkative and cheerful' during his visit home.

From Straits Times, "We are a close family".

The family of David Hartanto Widjaja yesterday repeated allegations that information about their son's death had been withheld from them.

At a press conference staged at the Furama City Centre Hotel opposite the Subordinate Courts yesterday, the family's Indonesian lawyer claimed they had been allowed to view only Mr Widjaja's head and neck when identifying him, rather than the whole body, despite their request.

The lawyer, Mr O.C. Kaligis, said the family was also upset that the crime scene had been cleared by the time they arrived in Singapore - about seven hours after his death - and accused Nanyang Technological University (NTU) of 'covering up' Mr Widjaja's injuries.

A pathologist the family consulted also disputed the results of the autopsy carried out by Singapore's Health Sciences Authority.

Dr Djaja Surya Atmadja admitted, however, that he had not seen Mr Widjaja's body.

Also present at the press conference were the dead man's parents and his older brother, Mr William Widjaja, 24, who lashed out at the university for a statement it released when the incident first occurred.

In it, NTU said the student was believed to have stabbed the professor before falling off the linkway between two blocks.

The elder Mr Widjaja said the family felt the statement should not have been released before investigations had been completed.

He said 'the good name of David' has been tainted because of the NTU statement. 'How can they do this? It hurts the family.'

In response, NTU said yesterday that it had sought to handle the family's situation with 'sympathy and respectfulness'.

It said it had given assistance and support to the family during their time of need, as well as made funeral and other administrative arrangements in accordance with their wishes.

The university added that it had provided its full cooperation to the police during investigations.

The above article's background story, "Family accuses NTU of covering up injuries".

When Mr David Hartanto Widjaja's family arrived in Singapore on the day he died, various people all told them he had stabbed his professor, cut his own wrists and jumped off a bridge to his death.

These were mostly representatives from the Nanyang Technological University, said Mr Widjaja's brother William at a coroner's inquiry into the death.

Mr William Widjaja, 24, said he was surprised everyone had already drawn conclusions about how the events had panned out even though police investigations had barely started.

A bloody Mr David Widjaja, 21, had been seen leaving the office of NTU professor Chan Kap Luk. Several witnesses who had testified earlier said they saw the student thrust himself off the bridge.

Mr William Widjaja said on the stand yesterday: 'NTU lied to us. They convinced us David cut his wrists and committed suicide. We never believed it.'

He added that his family said 'yes' when the university 'pressured' them to decide whether they wanted to cremate Mr Widjaja's body in Singapore or to fly the body back in a coffin. Had the family been aware of the injuries his brother had suffered, he said, they would have flown his body to Jakarta for another autopsy.

When he said he doubted how the autopsy here was conducted, State Coroner Victor Yeo intervened and requested that Mr William Widjaja stick to 'objective evidence'. On Wednesday, the Widjajas lashed out at NTU over a statement it released shortly after the incident, saying such a statement should not have been released before investigations were done.

The statement, released to the media about four hours after the incident, said Mr David Widjaja was 'believed to have stabbed Prof Chan and subsequently fallen off the linkway between two blocks'.

Mr William Widjaja also spoke of suspicions of a conspiracy theory and accused NTU of withholding information about his brother's death from the family.

He said NTU had 'intimidated' several students who knew his brother into not speaking about the incident to anyone.

From Straits Times, "More accusations hurled".

He chatted with his brother over the Internet regularly, during which they would update each other on their lives.

Their mother would also send SMSes to David Hartanto Widjaja daily to find out how he was doing.

Yesterday, David's elder brother, William Hartanto Widjaja, 24, painted a picture of a close-knit family at the coroner's inquiry into his death.

Said Mr Widjaja, an IT consultant: 'We always share and discuss our problems and activities with our parents. We are a close family. It's easy to speak to our parents regarding our problems.'

David, 21, a final-year electrical and electronic engineering student at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), fell four storeys to his death at about 10.30am on 2 Mar.

He had allegedly stabbed Associate Professor Chan Kap Luk, 45, the supervisor of his final-year project, in his office earlier that day.

Mr Widjaja said he and his brother would share their problems with each other.

But David never mentioned that he was having trouble with his final year project or that he had other personal issues.

Mr Widjaja also said that David would forward him the e-mails which he had received from NTU. He would then print them out for their parents so that they could be updated about David's progress in school.

'My parents would also call him once every one or two weeks,' said Mr Widjaja.

He described his brother as an easy-going and cheerful person who liked to read books and play computer games.

Talkative & cheerful

The two of them shared a room till David was 17.

David came to Singapore to study on an Asean scholarship in 2005.

Since then, their parents had visited him twice.

The last time the family saw him was during Chinese New Year in January, when David went back to Jakarta.

Mr Widjaja said that there was 'nothing unusual' about his brother during his six-day visit back home.

'He was his usual talkative and cheerful self. He didn't appear stressed or anything,' he said.

He added that their mother had asked David about the progress of his final year project, but David did not seem worried and said that he would be completing it.

'My parents had full confidence in him and never pressured him,' he said.

Mr Widjaja also told the court that the family knew David played online games till very late at night.

He said that he and his parents had advised him to cut down on the amount of time he spent on gaming.

Mr Widjaja added that they were not surprised to learn that David's scholarship had been terminated as they had 'anticipated' it.

When asked by his family's lawyer, Mr Shashi Nathan, how his parents reacted when they were told of the termination, Mr Widjaja said: 'My parents just told him to decrease his (online) playing time and concentrate on his studies.

'We were not angry with him. His results had dropped but it was still good.'

Mr Widjaja said that the family was able to pay for David's school fees as he had only one semester to go before he graduated.

When asked by Mr Nathan if David had mentioned that he was unhappy or angry with anyone, Mr Widjaja said: 'David never got angry (with anyone).

'He never (thought about) revenge. He was a very light-hearted person.'

Mr Widjaja added that he did not think that thoughts of suicide and murder would ever be on his brother's mind.

Last week, the inquiry was told that investigators had found a text file in David's laptop.

Difficult

In the text file, the author had lashed out at his family and described his mother as controlling.

The writer said that his mother treated him like a child, which irritated him.

He added that his life had become much more 'difficult and complicated' after he entered university.

In the three months before David's death, the laptop user had also searched for and visited websites relating to suicide and murder.

Mr Widjaja said that he last communicated with his brother on 28 Feb, two days before his death.

In their online conversation, David had asked his brother about the specifications of a new laptop he was eyeing.

The brothers also chatted about a new online game that was coming out in Singapore.

The Widjaja family held a press conference during the lunch break yesterday.

They were adamant that David did not take his own life.

Mr Widjaja will continue to take the stand today.

From The New Paper, "'We were not angry with David' | Brother of dead NTU student says family didn't blame latter after he lost scholarship".