4 ms·
Not the first death of that kind in Singapore: "Family suspects interference in David Widjaja case" http://sgforums.com/forums/3317/topics/363855 http://sgfor
by Matti 14y ago
Not the first death of that kind in Singapore:
"Family suspects interference in David Widjaja case"
http://sgforums.com/forums/3317/topics/363855 http://sgforums.com/forums/3317/topics/363855
"However, it appeared the court process was intentionally directed to a conclusion of suicide despite evidence showing a strong possibility of murder, according to David's family and the verification team.
"We have strong evidence that he was murdered but that fact was not brought up in the court," David's father, Hartono Wijaya, told a press conference Tuesday at the National Commission on Human Rights."
[...]
"He added there was a suspicion David's death was related to his research: "Multiview Acquisition from Multi-camera Configuration for Person Adaptive 3D Display".
"His friends said his three-dimensional study could be used for various purposes, either for entertainment or even for military needs."
"And we must not forget that after David's death, there were two unusual deaths at NTU - his professor's assistant *committed suicide' four days later and another researcher was hit by a car 25 days later.""
EDITED: Having read more about the specific case, it seems to me that the official story sounds plausible enough. It's not at all clear whether there was foul play involved.
- contingencies 14y agoAbsolutely chilling. What are the odds of being hit by a car in Singapore? One would think that, given so few people have them and that there are so few roads large enough to speed down, with the culture being so conservative, drugs near-absent and surveillance omnipresent, that it would be rare indeed; further, it would be trivial to catch the perpetrator. Were they caught in this case? Not, I suppose. It feels as if western state-assisted assassinations of civilians are becoming a more frequently documented reality, and not just for CIA rendition, UAV or economic sanction victims, either.
- lukeholder 14y agoI dont know much about these cases, but having lived in singapore you are just as likely to be hit by a fast moving car as anywhere. I saw people running across the ~4 lane orchard rd all the time while shopping.
- sswaner 14y agoI agree. I was almost hit by a truck while crossing Orchard at Grange.
- gph 14y agoLet's see what the statistics have to say, first for Singapore: "Total pedestrian fatalities dropped from 49 in 2011 to 44 in 2012" [1] Singapores' population is ~5 million[wikipedia], so the odds of being killed by a car for the total population is ~0.00088% For a comparison let's look at NYC, which has roughly double the population within City Limits (~8 million for NYC): "From 2002 to 2006, 843 pedestrians were killed"[2] That's ~211 deaths per year. Making the percentage odds ~0.0026375% So you're about 1/3 as likely to be hit and killed by a car in Singapore than NYC. That's fairly significant, but there are a couple things to point out. NYC does have a significantly higher population density and I would assume it has a higher amount of vehicle traffic. I think overall while it's clearly less likely to be killed as a pedestrian in Singapore, I wouldn't exactly call it "rare". And while I'm no professional on Singapore, I don't know why you characterize Singapore as somewhere that doesn't have large roads or many vehicles (There are 965,192 vehicles in Singapore[1]). Also I don't think CCTV is nearly as ubiquitous as you think, from the few news articles I've read they probably only have a few thousand with more only starting to roll-out recently[3][4]. It's certainly not up to London standards, and I doubt even there ever single pedestrian death is caught by CCTV. [1]http://driving-in-singapore.spf.gov.sg/services/driving_in_singapore/information_traffic_statistics.htm http://driving-in-singapore.spf.gov.sg/services/driving_in_s... [2]http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/nyc_ped_safety_study_action_plan_technical_supplement.pdf http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/nyc_ped_safety_stu... [3]http://www.safetrolley.com/latest-news/singapore-police-install-high-tech-cctv-cameras-fight-crime-1784.html http://www.safetrolley.com/latest-news/singapore-police-inst... [4]http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Singapore/Story/A1Story20111017-305422.html http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Singapore/Story/A1S...
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- contingencies 14y agoI don't see how NY is relevant at all. Perhaps this is relevant, though: "With a population of 5 million, Singapore has one of the world's highest per capita execution rates. While official figures are not produced, according to Amnesty International there have been at least 400 executions over the past two decades." - The Guardian, 2010-11-16, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/nov/16/death-discrimination-singapore-shadrake http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/...
- ginger_beer 14y agoSorry but this is rather ignorant. Enough people have cars and the roads are definitely wide enough, just like anywhere else, for traffic accidents to occur regularly. Surveillance might be omnipresent, but it's not a CCTV state like the UK.
- jzwinck 14y agoSingapore has many wide roads for a city, substantial traffic, reasonable speed limits, and many intersections with at least one crossing having no crosswalk or pedestrian signals. In the short time I have lived in Singapore, there were two kids killed by a truck, and I've seen two or three roadside signs appealing for witnesses to accidents with serious or fatal injuries. So it's pretty much like other places. People can get hurt, and big brother is not all-seeing just yet.
- miked 14y ago>> It feels as if western state-assisted assassinations of civilians are becoming a more frequently documented reality And when were they documented the first time? It's much more plausible to believe that you are paid by the Chinese government to spread that rumor than to believe what you've written.
- brador 14y agoIs hitting someone by car really a plausible method? Do they just drive round the block over and over until they see the guy?
- maeon3 14y agoIt's pretty easy to track a person without being detected, it's probably a little harder than deer hunting, but it's not impossible.
- mistercow 14y agoNot knowing much about it, I would assume that tracking people would be easier so long as you're in civilization. A deer would be suspicious at the site of any human at all. A human only becomes suspicious if they notice the same human more than once.
- RivieraKid 14y agoDefinitely plausible. They know that he crosses the road at certain times. So they park a car nearby. As he's approaching the road, the car driver is notified and tries to hit him. Or - they can simply kill him in other way and report that he was hit by car.
- mistercow 14y agoWhy would you need to drive around the block over and over? Cars can be parked.
- SilasX 14y agoI'm guessing this is if you need to pull off the hit in NYC or San Francisco.