Singapore's NTU stabbing incident leaves one dead and another injured
Posted: 02 March 2009 1532 hrs

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SINGAPORE: A final-year engineering student at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) jumped from a campus block after stabbing a professor on Monday morning.

The professor was in his office at the engineering faculty when the student stabbed him in the back with a knife, leaving him injured.

After stabbing the professor, the male student - who was in his 20s - slit his wrists and jumped off a five-storey building.

Police said they received a call about the incident at 10.35am, and arrived to find the student dead at the bottom of the engineering block.

Eyewitnesses had also told Channel NewsAsia that a person had been stabbed, and that a student, believed to be an Indonesian-Chinese had slit his wrists before jumping off a building.

An NTU spokesman later confirmed that a final year student from the School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering was involved in the stabbing.

It, however, did not name the two people involved, and only said that their next-of-kin had been notified.

The student is said to be 21-year-old David Hartanto Widjaja and the professor is believed to be Chan Kap Luk, who was left with injuries on his back and arm.

Widjaja was a former president of the NTU Electronic Sports Club.

Professor Chan, a Singaporean in his 40s, was sent to the National University Hospital for treatment and is said to be in a stable condition.

The professor has been with NTU's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering since June 1992.

Professor Chan, who is Deputy Director of the Biomedical Engineering Research Centre at NTU, is said to have been the supervisor of the student in a project.

NTU's president, Su Guaning, pledged to help the families of the professor and student and has mobilised its counselling professionals to help. He also said the matter will be investigated thoroughly.

"The university is deeply shocked and saddened by what has happened... The university community will rally together at this difficult time and do our utmost to help the student's family, the professor and his family, and those traumatised by the incident," added Dr Su.

Speaking to the media at the NUH in the evening, Dr Su said Professor Chan might be discharged in a few days. The stab wound in the professor's back was "deep" but no vital organs were injured. His arm was also not "too badly hurt".

It is understood that at the time of the incident, Widjaja was discussing his final-year project with Professor Chan, as he had difficulty obtaining a pass grade.

Dr Su said Widjaja was a "very good student" whose grades had slipped recently, but he was still considered above average. He said Professor Chan had expressed regret that he could not help his student earlier.

The NTU president said he hopes to prevent such an incident from happening again. "I think it's an overall pastoral care system that is necessary. We've already set up such a thing, with the Student Affairs Office, many counsellors keeping an eye on students with problems.

"Unfortunately, the student never showed that he had problems. ... We would like to review the system to see how we can pick out better students who have such problems, even if they don't communicate with others."

- 938LIVE/CNA/sf/ir